Targeted transpireneal biopsy

I did not have this but my brother had this done recently.  Like you he works in front of a computer.  As i remember he took a few days off work - but can do work from home and he was able to do this.  I think it was uncomfortable and some bruising but not too bad for him.

Hopefully someone who has actual experience of this will come along and give you a better idea of what to expect in the days following the procedure.

I haven't had this procedure myself but it is similar to a TRUS biopsy which I did have. The difference is that there will be a small external wound in your perineum,  As with the TRUS biopsy, there will be some internal.tissue damage.

What you do after the biopsy is really as much as you feel OK doing.  It might be uncomfortable sitting down.

It's a good idea to drinks lots, to flush through your urinary system.

The main risk is infection.

You might find this link helpful

www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../transperineal-template-or-targeted-biopsy

Hi Peter. My husband is 11 days post Transperineal Biopsy.

As he has a very manual job, the consultant told him he couldn't work for two weeks and to be honest, with the impressive bruising and swelling (still not good) he couldn't have done his job, but a desk job, probably as long as you can alternate between sitting and standing as he found being in one position uncomfortable. He also said that it wasn't as bad as he expected, if that is any help.

Good luck and paracetamol eased the worst of his discomfort for a couple of days. 

We are still waiting on the results and have been told up to 4 weeks, but he has two lesions. I don't know if they post to Spain but as recommended on here, we have found The Toolkit publication invaluable reading and the fact everything is broken down into short booklets means you can read and digest each aspect easily.

Thanks for your help. I would also need to go out to teach a couple of classes but again around a table, so here’s hoping it won’t be too bad.

Yes, I had a TRUS 18 months ago and apart from some discomfort I was fine and even went out for lunch afterwards ...

Thanks for sharing your husband’s experience, which doesn't sound great. I suppose everyone’s body reacts differently and may also depend on how many samples they take. 

Two of the biggest differences between the two biopsies, that I can tell, is the amount of biopsies taken, normally between 25-30, but can be more like my husband and the fact that you have had a general anaesthetic.

We also had missed, somehow, the level of bruising and severity of it and were a little shocked when things turned black, but hopefully you will be reassured by my husband saying that it was nowhere as bad as the thought it was going to be. He also says that if he had had a desk job he would have been fine going back to work after a few days as he is now going stir crazy being at home.

Sandra

Thanks again, Sandra. I'm hoping they won't be taking that amount in my case as I had the impression they were only taking samples of the lesion and that it wasn't a saturation biopsy, which is I believe is the term for waht your husnad had. But as I say communication here is not great and when I got the results of the mri scan I was a bit in shock and am relying on what my wife remembers!

I think being in shock is a natural reaction and my husband and I both focused on totally different things when we were told unexpectedly that he had two highly suspicious lesions. 

Don't be afraid to ask questions as we thought he was going to have 25-30 biopsies but when he signed his consent for with the consultant, he told him 30-40, and everyone he came into contact with asked if he knew exactly what procedure he was having done and could he tell them what it involved.

The other piece of great advice was to buy a notebook and take notes at your appointments and you can also not any questions you want to ask in it, so you remember for your next appointment. We already have quite a few questions written down. Some of these we should automatically get answers to, but the list will remind us to ask if we don't.

Good luck with your biopsy.

Sandra

Thanks again and I hope your husband’s results are good. Because I already had a blind TRUS biopsy 18 months ago, I blithely assumed they’d only take biopsies from the lesion but having had a look round the Internet, seems I’m probably wrong. I imagine they will tell me before they get going. The procedure here is done with spinal anaesthetic.

Peter