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Public release date: 21 January 2009
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Are You Scared By The Thought Of A Prostate Biopsy Exam?
If you are a man then you will almost certainly suffer from one prostate problem or another at some point
in your life. If you are under 50 years of age is most likely to be prostatitis (an infection
or inflammation of the prostate) and, if you are over 50 then it is also relatively likely to be an enlarged
prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH). Additionally, a significant number of men over the age of
50 will also suffer from prostate cancer.
A significant difficulty with these prostate conditions is that they often have very similar symptoms and
you can, for example, be experiencing difficulties with urination because of both infection of the prostate
gland and an enlarged prostate. In a lot of cases these conditions will also not be accompanied by any
symptoms at all at first and the clear danger danger here is that you might have a developing prostate
cancer without even knowing it.
So, if you are suffering from symptoms of any sort of prostate problem, you would be wise to talk to your
doctor. Equally, if you are over 50 years of age you ought to request your doctor to check you at regular
intervals for prostate problems, even if you are not presently experiencing any prostate symptoms.
The two most often seen tests for prostate problems are the digital rectal examination, which is a physical
exam of the prostate looking for indications of any abnormalities, and the PSA, or prostate specific antigen,
blood test that looks for a protein in the blood which is an indicator of prostate cancer. However, when all
is said and done, the only sure test for the presence of prostate cancer is to have a prostate biopsy exam.
Perhaps the commonest form of prostate biopsy makes use of a transrectal ultrasound probe which guides the
urologist to the prostate gland and then uses a hollow needle to collect several samples of tissue from
different areas of the prostate gland for examination under the microscope. A less common, but still much
used type of biopsy, is the insertion of a biopsy needle through the skin between the anus and scrotum and
into the prostate gland to again collect the necessary samples. In both cases the samples will show the
presence and degree of spread of any cancer, together with just how aggressive the cancer is.
A prostate biopsy exam is not a particularly pleasant procedure resulting in a short and uncomfortable
sensation as each sample is collected, but it is luckily fairly short (taking approximately 15 minutes)
and is often carried out in the doctor’s office using a local anesthetic. In the days following your
biopsy you will probably be sore and will also notice a small amount of blood in your urine and possibly
some light bleeding from the rectum. Finally, it is not uncommon to experience small amounts of blood in
your semen and this can be noticeable for several weeks.
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