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Ultrasound is usually done in the same procedure as the biopsy. Most urologists in the face of a significantly elevated PSA or concerning lump on DRE will do a ultrasound guided biopsy. Sometimes they will do blind biopsies if there is no area on the ultrasound that is concerning.
As far as the hard lump poster, the positive predictive value of finding a lump on DRE is somewhere between 16 and 60% depending on what study you read. Most studies fall somewhere in the 30% range. So of those people with positive tests, only 30% actually have cancer as the source of that positive test. Bottom line, don't get all worked up over a lump in the prostate.
John_AZ: While I agree that it is usually wise to follow the recommendations of your doctor, prostate cancer is a very slowly growing disease in the vast majority of patients. There is a subset of younger patients who get a more aggressive form, but the time from disease diagnosis to first symptoms can be years to decades in most cases. Prostate cancer is not your usual cancer as we think about it, again most people die WITH prostate cancer rather than FROM prostate cancer.
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Rick
1984 911 coupe
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