First Step

Your PSA has risen to 4.0 and your urologist suggests a biopsy is the first step. This is done to confirm the presence of cancer in the prostate gland. At this point it is necessary to understand what a biopsy is and why this is a premature step and may undermine the proper determination of the aggressiveness and extent of the cancer. Traditionally this is the first step in the journey to cure prostate cancer. Unless this is a spike, a follow up PSA test a month later may be in order before jumping conclusions. However, modern medical procedures and technologies emerged providing far more accurate measurements than provided by the random 12 point biopsies performed by most urologists. In fact, performing this procedure with only random techniques often misses regions of cancer and may only sample the outer edge of a cancerous region. One critical issue is the inability to determine if the cancer has reached or penetrated the prostate capsule. Another critical issue is that a biopsy traumatizes the prostate gland so that future more accurate determinations of the extent of the cancer using MRI technologies is compromised as a result.

Instead, the first step on the prostate cancer journey needs to be education. Once your PSA has sharply risen or reaches 6.0 or higher, it is time to plan your next step of action..

1. Determine if this rise is temporary a trend
2. You should review your diagnosis options
3. The prostate gland typically will continue to grow, which may limit treatment options
4. Traditional urologists are not embracing modern medical technologies and research, much less non FDA approved procedures.
5. Traditional urologists are not advising patients on modern treatments offered worldwide but not yet approved by the FDA for prostate treatment
6. Unless you research diagnosis options, traditional diagnosis such as random biopsy can make modern more accurate diagnosis methods difficult.
7. Unless you research alternatives, opting for traditional treatments will in most cases render you incontinent and impotent.
8. Radiation treatment may trigger additional cancers in addition, in most cases render you incontinent and impotent.
9. No treatment plan which treats the prostate gland, ie not surgery, does not guarantee total cure of cancer, much less prevent new cancer in non treated areas.