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Nov. 2015 psa 3.5, Feb.2016 psa 5.6, April 2016 psa 9.6
First of all, thanks again for all your valuable input. Doctor finally returned from vacation, so we discussed the 9.6 results for the first time. He feels such a rapid rise is not usually indicative of cancer. However, he wants to do the biopsy. I had my notes from all your info ready. He was going to use ultrasound, but I said what about MRI (as per your suggestion). So we are scheduling the MRI followed by fusion biopsy. Questions: We will be away from May 21-31, so we're trying to get the MRI done before we go and the biopsy on June 1.We previously had made an appointment with a specialist for the 6th. Will we have the biopsy results in time for this appointment or should I move it to the 14th? Anything else I should know or do? Thank you again. You've been a great help.
It's great that your Doc is on board for the 3T-MRI fusion biopsy. Regarding the timing of your meeting post biopsy, If they have a pathologist in house, a week should be enough but I would go with the 14th just to be on the safe side. Your meeting would suck if you didn't have the pathology report.
PS: If you want to get a jump on this, I would be happy to read your MRI report before the biopsy and help you understand it. Your report will have PIRAD scores for each suspicious lesion. The # ranges from 1-5.
As I understand it, not all 3T-MRI machines have the PIRAD software. Some 3T-MRI machines still use external coils rather than the better TR coils (TransRectal).
While an external MRI is better than doing the TRUS biopsy alone, it may save time if you do a bit of research about the MRI machine details before hand.
