Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
Prostate cancer is diagnosed on transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy. Your urologist will recommend a prostate biopsy after an abnormal PSA or DRE. The biopsy procedure is done in the doctor’s office under local anesthetic.
Before the procedure, you will be given:
- An enema. You will need to use one enema on the morning of the procedure, to clean out your bowel.
- An antibiotic. You will take one dose the night before the procedure, and one the morning of the procedure, to help prevent infection.
In the office, you will lay on your side on the examining table. Your urologist will place an ultrasound probe into your rectum to visualize the prostate and guide the biopsy needle. Local anesthetic is injected into your rectal wall which will help make you comfortable during the procedure. Ten to twelve tissue samples will be taken. The procedure takes about 20 minutes
Risks of this procedure include:
- Infection
- Difficulty urinating or urinary retention
- Blood in the stool, urine, or semen
Results of the biopsies are usually back in a week to ten days. Your doctor will call you with the results. The biopsy samples give the doctor information on how the prostate cells look and if they cancerous.
If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, your doctor may order additional tests to see if the cancer has spread beyond the prostate. These tests may include additional bloodwork, a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis, an MRI, or a bone scan (to check for spread of the cancer into the bones).
