Lots of great thoughts as usual from the treasure trove of experience of members....

I posted this before...

We've gotten better at determining, do I have PCa, if so, what...

We've learned that DRE may not be a definitive answer...

From the Prostate Cancer Foundation website on screening...

...DRE cannot feel prostate abnormalities in the anterior (forward) area of the prostate, away from the rectum, and is often most useful only when the prostate cancer has grown sufficiently to cause cancer that can be felt with a finger. The DRE is no longer recommended as a standalone screening test for prostate cancer.

The blind TRUS we all grew up on back in the day has been improved with MRI guided, yet, still, is it definitive?

Today, thanx to ongoing medical research, there are better ways and means to determine if one has PCa and if so, what?

Links to ways to determine if one has PCa.

medpagetoday.com/urology/pr...

google.com/gasearch?q=4k%20...

google.com/gasearch?q=prost...

google.com/gasearch?q=pse%2...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl...

Of course, one has to know about these, ask one's medical team about the next step, a treatment decision, how best use them and then understand the results.

Still, I see a large number of posts that use DRE and TRUS (ok, MRI or MPRI guided) as the basis for decision making. Is that wrong, not necessarily. Is it the best way to know in order to make an informed treatment decision, I'm on the side that says no.

Finally, we see literature on the use of PSMA PET in initial staging but not mainstream.

My thought is use all the tools in the tool bag to answer the question, do I have PCa, if so, what?

Kevin