New Member - anxiously waiting for prostatitis to subside before biopsy

Hi Tom, I was recently diagnosed with prostrate cancer and things moved really fast for me. I asked for a PSA test following my brothers diagnosis of prostrate cancer. I got my bloods taken on the 10th December 2024, had my PSA result on the 12th December PSA 5.6, had my MRI scan on 29th December, had biopsy on the 14th January this year. So things moved pretty fast for myself resulting in me having curative cancer and currently undergoing consultations to discuss treatment options.

All I can think in your case is that they can’t carry out a biopsy whilst you have an infection as the biopsy results may not be reliable.

i am no expert on this and very new and apprehensive as to what lies ahead of me following treatment, but I’m sure that the only reason In delaying your biopsy would be a medical reason.

Try not to get too stressed though it’s hard not to, I’m sure that the doctors have your health as a priority.

If you want to follow my diary just click on my profile. It will be updated later this week

Hi Tom, welcome to the forum, having never had prostatitis, I'm not sure what the procedure is regarding having a biopsy, under normal circumstances, 4 to 6 weeks is usual.

I am not an expert, but  though your pirad score of 4 is suggestive of prostate cancer, your other results and medical history point to a different cause. I am sorry you have medical anxiety, and believe me, whenever cancer is mentioned we all struggle mentally at first, and it's difficult to think nothings being done when there's a possibility of prostate cancer, I  can say, prostate cancer is nearly always very slow growing and one of the easiest to treat, and IF you should have it, please remember 98% of guys who get it, will not die of it.. Best wishes. 

Eddie 

Good morning Tom Tomango and welcome to the group. Whilst it is not usual to have to wait for so long for a biopsy it sounds as if the experts have your own health in mind because of the Prostatitis which can take quite a while to clear up. In the meantime you have had an MRI which has given you some good information on position and size, plus importantly that there is no lymph or node involvement. Also you have a low PSA but the reading could be affected by the Prostatitis which can raise it. Prostate cancer is usually slow growing and 98% of men die with it, not of it. IF you have prostate cancer and it is contained within the gland then it will be dealt with according to a range of different options with curable intent.

Mentally the waiting is the worst time and we all understand how anxious it is with the not knowing. If you need to talk to someone then Macmillan have a support line on 0808 808 00 00 . Also many hospitals have a Maggie's which you can drop into for a chat. We are here as well and try to help out with information or if you want to get involved in any of the off piste topics we can wander into.

Hi Tom (Tomango ), easy for us to say don’t worry but that won’t help.  My suggestion would be to get another PSA test done to see if any major increase.  As Eddie has already mentioned, PCa is generally very slow growing and if your PSA remains low(ish) then I think your team have made the correct call.  You don’t want sepsis under any circumstances, so a month or two won’t hurt waiting.  Please come back if you need anything further and update us when you know.  David

Hi Tom, just to add to David's suggestion of having another PSA test, ask them, "if it's possible," to show you the ratio between free and protein bound PSA, as a +25% ratio in favour of free PSA, shows a high likelyhood, of being non cancerous, but only for PSA results below 10

Eddie

Good Morning Tom (Tomango) 

Another warm welcome to the Macmillan Online Prostate Community from me (late to the party today!!). I am Brian one of the Community Champions at Macmillan and I also have Prostate Cancer.

I think you have add some great answers above, yes PCa is slow growing, yes you don't want sepsis and I think your team have got your best interests at heart. My advice is to stick with the advice you are being given, yes I would go for another PSA test to see what that's doing too.

The diagnostic stage of the Prostate Cancer journey is awful and we have all been there. Try to get on with life but remember we are all here for you and if you do have any questions please feel free to ask them however trivial the may appear.

Best wishes - Brian

Hi all, just to say thank you all for taking the time to text back it's very much appreciated .

Today I have been to see my consultant again  .this was a planned app to see if the last lot of antibiotics helped which they haven't.

So on different antibiotics for 6 weeks then plans for prostate massage if no better.

I asked about a further PSA test which he declined due to having the Prostatitis which can itself go up to 100  and would just muddy the waters at this time.

He said PSA needs to be done 4/ 6 weeks after prostatitis has gone.also scan at this time to

All very confusing and obviously going to be a waiting game.

He also repeated that the Prostatitis is very difficult to differentiate from PSA on scan  and prostatitis can give false positive on pirad4/5

As it is a great mimicker on images.

My head is all over the place at the moment  

And have been given lots of different pain killers which really don't touch the sides.

Consultant mentioned I should go on to pregabalin.

Going to go for a hot soak to try and ease the pain underneath.

Once again a big thanks for the advice and info from you all and hope you stay well.

Regards Tom

Hi Tom, and thank you for your update, wishing you well with your new antibiotics, and hope they do their job, so you are able to have your biopsy, enjoy your soak my friend, and please keep in touch with the forum.

Eddie 

Tom ( Tomango) , really pleased you got an expert opinion on the PSA test and what he said seems to make sense to me.  Unfortunately it is a waiting game but lots of positives out of chat with the consultant.  It sounds like they are on the ball and I really hope the change in antibiotics sorts out the problem.  Best wishes, David.