mjluke said...
A friend of mine has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. His PSA and gleasons are similar to mine- similar biopsy results although a couple of my samples indicated a higher percentage than his.
The main difference is that my DRE indicated a significant tumor on the right side whereas his DRE showed normal- PSA increase gave rise to his biopsy.
We are both investigating the available treatments ( or not ).
My question is this. All other things being fairly equal ,what is the significance of postive V. negative DRE findings. In other words is it likely that I am in more trouble given the DRE findings.
Not necessarily. A DRE is only as good as the doctor giving it. My Pca was initially found by a DRE and a couple of urologists I saw afterward told me to commend my primary care doctor for a good find. Many others wouldn't have felt it. That said after a normal and a 3d mapping biopsy my Pca was found to be early stage and I was designated as a good candidate for TFT (targeted focal therapy) which the last I saw only about
57% who go through a 3d mapping biopsy remain eligible for. The other 43% go on to more aggressive radical treatments. I don't know exactly how that compares to post surgical upgrades but I bet it's fairly close. Of course with your dx how really significant is your significant tumor? But as I said to begin with not necessarily so don't automatically think the worse.