Results eventually

Hello Loobjo 

To me 7 weeks is excessive BUT you have a meeting and it's face to face which to my mind is more personal.  My results meeting took over an hour but I had a big list of questions. 

As we are all different, I would be asking for the results, what they mean and what your treatment options are. You should be offered a choice of treatments AND you need time to decide. Don't be pushed into anything at the meeting.

Here's a list that may help you put your question list together:-

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR TEAM.

Good Luck tomorrow. Please do come back to us tomorrow and let us know how you have got on.

Best wishes - Brian.

Thank you Brian . It’s been excessive to us and I can’t understand why so long . We are so nervous , dreading it but also wanting to know . I will let you know tomorrow . I think it’s cancer as he had a Pirads 5 on mri  and a  PSA is 12.7 . The pirads 5 abnormality is in left hemi of transition zone , what does that mean ? 

Hello Loobjo 

I am not medically trained, but my understanding is the prostate is divided into 4 zones and the transition zone is the one the urethra runs through. It continues to grow the older you get and can cause issues in having a wee in later life!

I think the delay is just the NHS under pressure. 1 in 8 men get prostate cancer - just think if those with symptoms all came forward at once - it would be overwhelmed!!

Good luck tomorrow.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Loobjo , good luck with the results today.  Please come back to us and we can help you through, should you need it.  David

Hello Loobjo . You have asked a question about the transition zone so maybe this will help. 

Roughly 1 out of every 5 prostate cancers arises from the transition zone (TZ). The TZ is separated from the rest of the prostate gland by compressed fibromuscular tissue and is located in the anterior and central part of the gland. The majority of TZ cancers are located in the mid- and apical prostate [1]. Due to their location, most TZ cancers are nonpalpable and are less often detected by standard biopsy schemes; consequently they are larger when diagnosed compared with peripheral zone (PZ) cancers. Despite larger volumes, several studies have demonstrated that TZ cancers display a more favorable biologic behavior compared with those arising from the PZ [1,2–6]. These studies have reported superior biochemical relapse-free survival (bRFS) after radical prostatectomy (RP) in matched pair analysis [1]. Whether the difference in outcomes after RP between TZ and PZ cancers is simply the consequence of anatomical location within the gland or due to biological differences between cancers in these locations is not known.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9034732/#:~:text=Roughly%201%20out%20of%20every,and%20apical%20prostate%20%5B1%5D.

 In summary having the cancer in the transition zone is better than the peripheral zone in terms of risk of developing a recurrence in lower risk patients. The one proviso is if the Gleason is 7 4+3 or above then this benefit is cancelled out.

The paper refers to Prostatectomy because this is how they have obtained the information but there are other therapies nowadays which can give good results. Each form of treatment comes with potential side effects so you will have to work through which ones you and your husband can cope with and make your decision from there.

We are here for any questions so ask away and good luck for your meeting.

Brian , we got my husbands results today , he has prostate  cancer a Gleason 7 ( 3+4) . He is on active surveillance. If anything changes at 3 monthly PSA tests we will go to treatment . We came out relieved it wasn’t a worse outcome but then worried if that was the right approach , we hadn’t even considered it might be that option . 

David , thank you for your best wishes for today . He has prostate cancer a Gleason 7(3+4) all explained clearly by Dr and clinical nurse . He is in active surveillance for the time being .

Thank you for all that great and very interesting information much appreciated 

Hello Loobjo 

Well at least you can rest easy now you know just where you are with this.

Do come back to us if/when anything changes - personally I am not a fan of AS but so long as nothing changes and he's feeling OK that's great.

Thank you for the update.

Best wishes - Brian.