← Return to Biopsy vs Surgery Results

Discussion
ireland1964 avatar

Biopsy vs Surgery Results

Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Aug 29 9:17pm | Replies (44)
Comment receiving replies
Profile picture for fritzo @fritzo

@brianjarvis

Thanks for all of that information.

Candidly; I didn't have a lot of these tests before surgery. Pretty much PSA, MRI, Biopsy and then PSMA-PET.

I'm sure it would have been helpful to have more information before making a decision.

The one test I did get was a Decipher test, which was reinforced my decision to pursue surgery as first course of action (just on the edge of aggressive at .61). With that Decipher score, if I pursued radiation as first course, it was recommended that I do six months of hormone therapy. That was a nope. Saving that for recurrence if I need it.

I guess I fit the norm...despite the fact that my surgeon said my post surgery pathology score would likely go up because he felt my biopsy (done elsewhere) was undersampled because it was transrectal and not transpereneal, my final post-surgical pathology remained the same at 3+4=7. So, I was happy about that.

What tests would you recommend off of this list for most people starting their journey?

Jump to this post

Replies to "@brianjarvis Thanks for all of that information. Candidly; I didn't have a lot of these tests..."
ireland1964 | @ireland1964 | Aug 26 1:09pm

@fritzo mind if I ask the final results of your prostrate after surgery were compared to the prior test results?

VIEW AND REPLY
brianjarvis | @brianjarvis | Aug 26 5:32pm

@fritzo I tracked all the PSA-type tests; I wanted to know if anything worse was lurking unseen.
> the PSE test became available in September 2023; I never had that.

After going off active surveillance, I chose proton radiation + 6 months of hormone therapy. (If I have recurrence, I have the options of focal therapy (e.g., cryo), brachytherapy, SBRT (because they’re all very targetable), and even possibly even re-radiation. (I was diagnosed in 2012; had 4 transrectal biopsies during the 9 years that I was on active surveillance.)

For me, I had both the OncotypeDx and Prolaris tests.
> the OncotypeDx test was to help with my decision to go onto active surveillance.
> the Prolaris test was to help with my decision to go off of active surveillance.

Which biomarker test to use would depend on what someone starting on this journey was looking for (& what their insurance will pay for). That’s the in-depth discussion between patient and doctor.

VIEW AND REPLY