Newbie with Locally advanced prostate cancer

That’s a bummer ! But it sounds as if you had a blind biopsy ( without an MRI , or with a negative one ) , so they had nothing in particular to aim for , so a significant chance of a false -ve . With theTURP , they have huge amounts of tissue to look st , so a much higher probability of finding it . I suppose the downside is that you could maybe have cured both with one procedure, rather than curing them separately ! Good luck . Bill

Sorry , both the BPH and the Cancer .

Cheers Bill Biopsy was a day after the normal MRI. A concern to me is that I had a bladder problem diagnosed 20 years before the biopsy, the symptoms (same as Cancer) gradually got worse as the body got used to each of the meds. Certainly wasn't cancer causing the problem for those 20 years.

No . I had both a huge prostate and a prostate cancer . Had a radical prostatectomy for the cancer , but it’s really helped the other symptoms too . So feeling great , I’m sure it won’t be long till you are too - stage 2b. N0M0 Gleason 4+3 

I can't see how a biopsy would trigger a cancer - you must have cut your hands multiple times, scuffed your knees as a kid - they didn't 'trigger cancer'. I think it's just your subconscious trying to make sense of your situation. Also, whatever triggered your particular cancer is something you will never know - and it's the same for all of us, except perhaps those where there is a genetic link. Looking for the impossible will drive you bonkers, and really won't change anything. Let's face it, would you have refused the biopsy if someone had said there's a one in a million chance it'll trigger a cancer?

We are where we are. There's no-one to blame, and we need to face forward, not look back.

Not trying to blame anyone, just trying to find out if it is a risk so that people can be fully informed before opting for a biopsy. My Mother had Breast cancer several years ago and after surgery was put on Tamoxifen. She later developed cancer of the womb, which is a common side effect of Tamoxifen. She should have been warned to look out for the signs, but wasn't. Luckily she went to the GP in time. It's damage to the skin by the sun which can trigger skin cancer, it's damage to the lungs by asbestos, coal dust or smoking which can trigger lung cancer. No one has yet proven that damage to the prostate by biopsy does not increase the risk of developing prostate cancer.

As an aside do be aware that some hormone treatments can affect your blood sugar levels as can some treatments for hot flushes. Many health professionals don't appear to know this.

I was on Prostap for three years and Cyproterone for about two and a half years and my HbA1c level rose to 54, well into Type 2 Diabetes. Since finishing my HT in June last year and stopping Cyproterone in September it has now dropped back to 44, well into the "Normal" zone.

I had a face to face appointment with my GP this week and he wasn't aware of the link between Prostap3 and HbA1c levels. He is now!

Good luck with your treatment and keep well.

Thanks very much fro that, I'll make a note of it for later. I hate taking any meds unless essential, mainly due to unwanted side effects. Do you know there is an MHRA website where you can report your findings on the yellow card system. This can help doctors, chemists and patients with identifying previously unknown side effects. yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

The link is mentioned in the PIL for each treatment it's just that nether my oncology nurses or GP mentioned it to me. As long as one is aware of the problem one can take care with diet.

You can never prove that something doesn't cause cancer, but in this case, I don't think there's any evidence that it does. In all the cases you cited, 'foreign objects' led to the cancer - with a biopsy, nothing is put into the prostate.

And in your case, a negative biopsy 3 years ago, followed by a recent diagnosis of a T3 PCa means that far from causing your cancer, the biopsy actually missed a cancer that was already there: sadly, false negatives, especially in the early stages of the disease, can happen. But we do know that PCa is a slow growing tumour (in its early years, at least), and A T3 would take several years to develop - I think I've heard ten years, but it was good while ago when I looked into that. Certainly over three years though.

How Prostate Cancer Grows

(It's an American site, but a reliable one).