“My risk of death from prostate cancer?”
My urologist wants to do a prostate biopsy combined with ultrasound and MRI scans to get samples from the most likely areas with cancer. 3 years ago my biopsy only had cancer in 1/10th of 1%.
2 MRIs showed nothing of concern. My PSA jumped from 11 to 16.5 and now they want to do this procedure. My concern is: Since we know there is some cancer (like in virtually every man over 60). If they look at the most likely places they will almost surely find more cancer. Then they will want to treat it with surgery, radiation, or a combination of the 2. Given the above information, what are the chances that I will die from prostate cancer if I just ignore it?
2 MRIs showed nothing of concern. My PSA jumped from 11 to 16.5 and now they want to do this procedure. My concern is: Since we know there is some cancer (like in virtually every man over 60). If they look at the most likely places they will almost surely find more cancer. Then they will want to treat it with surgery, radiation, or a combination of the 2. Given the above information, what are the chances that I will die from prostate cancer if I just ignore it?
Male | 65 years old
6 Answers
With rapidly rising PSA and biopsy confirmed prostate cancer the treatment is absolutely necessary. Surgery and radiation therapy provide equal local cancer control rate.
The good news is that prostate cancer has good outcomes with or without treatment. As long as the disease remains local, it is unlikely to result in a patient's death. As it becomes more advanced or metastatic survival outcomes can certainly be impacted. There are a number of additional factors which should be considered including the pathology, Gleason score and metastatic tests.
Dr. Joshua N. Halpern
Radiation Oncologist
Prognosis is determined by many factors including the aggressiveness of the cancer cells, the amount of cancer burden potential spread etc. Without obtaining the actual tissue, it is not possible to make a determination. If treatment is needed, it may be curative and it may require surgery, radiation and or additional medication, depending on the stage of the disease.
It depends on your specific situation, especially the Gleason grade of the tumor indicating how fast it is growing and staging the common modalities for treatment include surgery, radiation and hormonal ablation.
You certainly can choose to "ignore" it, better to follow actual "watchful waiting" with follow up PSA levels and scans for signs of metastases (spread). Or you could opt for medical treatment with hormonal therapy among several other options. Talk to your urologist, your primary care provider and/or an oncologist for thorough review of all available options. Prostate cancer is extremely variable in its aggressiveness.
You may not die from prostate cancer right away, but you will suffer from complications from cancer including bleeding, urinary obstruction, and diffuse bone pain. No one knows when cancer takes off. I would suggest you have a biopsy and have treatment depending on the stage of disease. If it is not too late, cancer can be cured.
