[mvivanco]

Last year I had a prostate exam and the Dr. said my prostate felt larger than normal and I was peeing a lot. I was 55 at the time. My PSA was 4.3. He recommended I get a biopsy done. Of the 8 or 12 samples they took, only 1 sample on the right side had abnormal cells and of that it was 1/20th of the sample. This resulted in the 1 sample having a Gleason score of 6. Lowest possible score to be considered cancer. He recommended we do a MRI to be a little more certain. The MRI showed a large growth on the left side which was completely opposite what the biopsy showed! So then it was recommended to do another biopsy thru the perinium. This is much more targeted and they can hit the areas the MRI showed to have a growth. Well end result from that was the MRI was WRONG and the original biopsy was right! Come to find out the MRIs are not always right. Just like PSAs aren't always right. After the last biopsy thru the perinium, because they took more samples, they aggravated the prostate and it swelled up. This resulted in me not being able to pee so they had to give me a catheter which had to stay in for 4 days. This was extremely uncomfortable. It was a heck of a year.

With all that I can say that PSAs aren't a barometer if you should have a biopsy. MRIs clear or not are not always accurate. Getting the biopsy is the only way to know if you have cancer. If you are in the early stages it can also be missed. If they go in for the samples and don't hit where the cancer is then it can very easily be missed.