does prostate biopsy spread cancer?

QUESTION: My doctor set a date for the prostate biopsy, but one of my friend told me that it will spread prostate cancer. Does it really happen that a prostate biopsy spread cancer?

ANSWER: Hi,

There are some theories about this, but you have to know that when the biopsy is estimated the doctor is not 100% sure that you have prostate cancer and that is the only way to make diagnosis.

Other important thing in here is that in a short term, after a prostate biopsy, when the cancer is confirmed, the doctors are looking for a treatment, where the best treatment offered is the operation.

In this way, they remove the whole cancer from your prostate and they are putting you to chemotherapy, in purpose to destroy every other cell form the cancer in your organism.

Every tumor has specific characteristics and not all of the prostatic tumors are spreading. Some of them are just growing and not spreading because they have a capsule which is preventing the movement of the cells.

Other tumors for example do spread because they don’t have a capsule to prevent the movement of the cells. The non-spreadable tumors are defined as benign and the tumors which are spreading as malignant.

If the tumor of your prostate is malignant and it is still growing because it is in the early stages of development, it is quite possible to tear the tumor when the doctors take a piece of prostate during biopsy.

When the tumor is torn, its cells are able to enter the blood stream and to go in to the bones for example. But when the tumor cells are into the blood stream, they have to find specific antigens.

When they find these antigens they are able to glue to them and to start growing. Every tumor cells are searching for specific antigens among the organism.

If the cancer cell is not able to find these specific molecules, its final time is the death. There are a lot of specific antigens and for that reason, it is hard for the tumor cells to find the suitable ones.

As you can see, there are a lot of thing which are specific for the tumor to spread. In general, the tumors are spreading when they are in the end stage of their development.

For that reason it is quite possible for someone to have tumor development in the other tissue different from the prostate before the biopsy.

Dr.Alba

how long to get a prostate biopsy back?

QUESTION: how long to get a prostate biopsy back?


ANSWER: Hi,

Normally, it is required to wait for 7-10 days to obtain the result of prostate biopsy. However, sometimes, there is a delay due to the large number of prostate biopsies, and because, in some other times, doctors run extra tests to confirm certain diagnosis.

It is quite possible for you to obtain the result of your prostate biopsy in 4-5 day if everything is normally and there is no need of extra test.

However, that doesn’t mean that there is something wrong when your results come out after more than 5 days.

You may be wondering why there is such a delay in getting the prostate biopsy result.

Keep in mind that all pathologists are looking for cancer cells while proceeding the biopsy test, and, of course, this requires time.

In addition, sometimes, it is not possible to see the cancer cells via a microscope, because they look just like the normal cells.

In purpose to make the correct diagnosis, the pathologists use other different staining methods, which have the ability to make the tumor cells visible.

This procedure needs time, and there is determined period for all the stains used from the pathologist.

In some other cases, the staining does not show the tumor cells and for that reason, the pathologist are using imunohistochemical reactions which also require time.

The stainings and the imunohistochemical reactions are routine procedures, which, in most of the cases, are showing the right diagnosis.

Sometimes, in order to ensure the diagnosis, the pathologists are obligated to use other methods which are related with the finding of specific substance in the cells.

This is quite difficult because it is connected with the injection of substance marked with radioactive element. When this substance connects with the searched one, the pathologist is able to visualize it.

This may cost a lot of time and efforts but after all, pathologist are determining the diagnosis, the stage of the tumor, in some way the treatment and the probable exit of this condition.

All the best!

Dr.Alba