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Slight Anemia Following TULSA-PRO procedure

Posted by pdcar4756 @pdcar4756, May 14 8:58am

In October 2024 I had the TULSA-PRO procedure done at Mayo Rochester. About 50% of my 100cc prostate was ablated. Just prior to my procedure they did blood work and my Hemoglobin was 13.5 (in the normal range). In January 2025 I had my annual physical exam. Bloodwork was again done and my Hemoglobin had dropped to 12.9, just below the normal range. My primary care physician flagged it and said let's retest again in a month. Did the retest. Same result. We then checked my iron levels. All came back normal. My primary care physician didn't suggest any further testing to see what's going on. Had my 6 month follow up at Mayo and doctor there who did the procedure didn't seem concerned or felt there was a cause-effect relationship with the procedure. Yet to me this is the only variable in the equation. All of my past years I've never had an abnormal Hemoglobin test result. I'm just wondering if anyone out there in our community has experienced anything similar? My plan at this time is to just keep on keeping on until my next visit to Mayo for my annual checkup in October. Any other suggestions would be welcome as well. Thanks!

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pdcar4756 | @pdcar4756 | May 15 2:13pm
In reply to @bjroc "Normal isn't always what it seems by ranges, you have inflammatory condition that is causing the..." + (show)
@bjroc

Normal isn't always what it seems by ranges, you have inflammatory condition that is causing the ferritin to not be used properly and made into RBC is what that says from your labs. So you should target inflammatory condition of some sort, in mean time look into things like boswellia serrata to help alleviate the inflammation. If you didn't have CRP lab that might be good measure here too, and look to bring that down. Ferritins above 100 are often inflammation but sometimes not, but since hemoglobin is down that is kind of classic long term inflammation of some sort. Look into liver enzymes too, these should be mid range, if not look into things like NAC as a supplement.

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CRP = C Reactive Protein? I didn't have that lab test, so I don't know the value. NAC = Niacin?
I kinda feel this is some sort of inflammation situation as well. Thank you for your wisdom and sharing it.

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1 reply
pdcar4756 | @pdcar4756 | May 15 2:15pm
In reply to @rabaldwinjr "I'm 3+3 AS at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. Happy with the care. However, if I were..." + (show)
@rabaldwinjr

I'm 3+3 AS at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. Happy with the care. However, if I were to require intervention. I would want to do Tulsa. Was your procedure in Rodchester done with Medicare and/or Tricare coverage? Did you need any calcifications cleared out before the procedure? Thanks!

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Procedure was done at Mayo Rochester via United Healthcare Medicare Advantage plan. Mayo Rochester and United Healthcare have a contractual arrangement of some sort. I had no calcifications that were interfering with the procedure.

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pdcar4756 | @pdcar4756 | May 15 2:32pm

Thank you. This was helpful. We both had drops of 0.6. Yours was a 4.2% drop. Mine was 4.4%. So we are very similar. The only difference was my drop put me slightly below the normal minimum of 13.0 while yours remained in the normal range due to a higher starting value. The doctor ablated 50% of my 100cc prostate including the lesion in an attempt to address some BPH issues I had as well. I'm thinking that was a lot of trauma to my body. Maybe it's still dealing with that trauma after 6 months. If this hasn't resolved itself by my next checkup in September at Mayo, I'm going to ask them to help me get to the bottom of what's going on. My Primary Care Physician who was the first to see this doesn't seem too concerned at this time because he views it as "slightly anemic". To me however it's not normal. My HBC has been pretty stable all of my adult life. I'm grateful you shared your information with me!

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heavyphil | @heavyphil | May 15 4:09pm
In reply to @pdcar4756 "Radiation from what Phil? I had no radiation that I am aware of. Yes, I was..." + (show)
@pdcar4756

Radiation from what Phil? I had no radiation that I am aware of. Yes, I was in an MRI machine during the procedure, which might have last a couple hours I suppose. But no radiation, unless MRI is considered radiation.

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Oh man, brain fart…got you confused with another poster - so sorry!
Phil

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bjroc | @bjroc | May 15 5:15pm
In reply to @pdcar4756 "CRP = C Reactive Protein? I didn't have that lab test, so I don't know the..." + (show)
@pdcar4756

CRP = C Reactive Protein? I didn't have that lab test, so I don't know the value. NAC = Niacin?
I kinda feel this is some sort of inflammation situation as well. Thank you for your wisdom and sharing it.

Jump to this post

You didn't mention liver enzymes ALT, AST, ALP....

Anyway CRP is related to inflammation and livers too.

NAC = N-acetylcysteine which can pretty much bring down liver inflammation but we don't really have enough info.

This is all basic primary care stuff.

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