There Are Options to Consider When Monitoring for Prostate Cancer
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
I’ve recently been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Treatment, in my case, will likely require removal.
This was a surprise. The likelihood of an aggressive prostate cancer is statistically unlikely for my age. However, I’m lucky. I have a chance to eliminate this cancer – and it’s due to my curiosity, not a clinician’s.
If you are a man over 65, or know someone who is, here’s some information you may find useful. You may already be aware that most men, if they live long enough, will likely get a form of prostate cancer. Some less aggressive cancers may only require monitoring, while other more aggressive ones can require treatments like radiation and chemo or removal.
The PSA blood test has been the main problem indicator; however, PSA can go up and down, and even if it goes up, it doesn’t indicate what the cause is, cancer being just one. Because PSA is not a reliable indicator for cancer, the next step has been a biopsy – or not – a toss-up.
Two physicals ago, a doctor recommended not “bothering” with the PSA as part of my annual blood test routine: “We now recommend that men over a certain age (mine) not get this test; even if you have prostate cancer you are likely to die from something else first.”
Cancers can be slow-growing. Not testing avoids a biopsy and/or a patient’s anxiety over the prospects. I didn’t accept this reasoning. Genetic longevity in my family being one factor, curiosity another. My PSA was normal then, and the year after; but two years later it was not. At one point it was above the limit.
This time, curiosity made me see a urologist. I learned there is a prostate-specific MRI scan available that, like a routine colonoscopy, will indicate the likelihood of a cancer, point to the need for a biopsy or rule that out with continued monitoring.
This is a game-changer. The prostate MRI has been in use now for several years, yet no physician looking at my PSA numbers ever mentioned this. The scan can be ordered by a physician based on PSA results (paid for by Medicare). A high PSA can suggest an MRI scan to determine the likelihood of cancer, then a biopsy to establish the level of aggressiveness.
My curiosity (plus this scan) may have added a few years to my life. Look beyond the PSA test. Ask (or tell) your doctor.
Alan Pakaln
Croton-on-Hudson
Examiner Media – Keeping you informed with professionally-reported local news, features, and sports coverage.