Prostate cancer tests for 84 year old

[BetweenDogandWolf]

My 84 year old dad has a referral to hospital on Monday for ultrasound ofhis prostate and biopsy if needed. My mums wondering about how unpleasant the biopsy is likely to be and how accurate the results are. They would be able to pay for a private mri if they thought that would give accurate results, be less unpleasant and it's available.

Anyone with any experience got any advice/ reassurance?

Well, I won't lie and say that its a pleasant experience, but its over fairly quickly.

MRI on its own isn't enough to diagnose prostate cancer as they can't tell the Gleason score (which says how different the cells are from normal) from it and thats really important in deciding on treatment options.

It can be done under a general do less aware at the time . Can be a bit sore and bruised afterwards. Agree the biopsy is important.

Thanks both. I've done a bit more googling too and now think he should go for the biopsy.

As with all biopsies not the nicest thing, but you might find he copes fine. Mum had a bone marrow done at a similar age and though they can be very painful breezed through it.

My dad went to the hospital on his own unfortunately as my mum has a bad cold and I'm miles away. He said he decided not to have the biopsy but they did an ultrasound and the doctor told him he could tell it was cancer by looking at the ultrasound. He had more blood tests and has to have a mri scan and bone scan to see if it has spread but hasn't got the date for those yet.

The weird thing is is that my dad seems in a very positive mood. He said the doctor said it didn't look too bad and should probably only knock a max of 18 months off his life which to me seems an odd thing for them to say (and not sure if I believe it? My dad doesn't usually lie but doesn't really talk about feelings) as I don't think they could know that at this stage. I'm confused.

My mum's bewildered by my dad's reaction, as it's more like he's acting like he's had good news. Whereas it's taken me over a week to feel up to coming back to this thread!

Not sure what I'm asking, if anything but any replies welcome.

Well, at 84, he would have a very good chance of dying of something other than prostate cancer even if they did nothing, on average figures for prostate cancer progression.

But I would be very surprised at a urologist giving a confident diagnosis without a biopsy, let alone making predictions.

If you can, I'd def go with him to the next consultant appointment to hear the whole story.

Thanks CMOT. I know that prostate cancer growing at the average rate probably wouldn't be that big a deal at 84. I wish he'd had the biopsy though so we'd know.

If I can't go next time at least my mum should be able to go and she asks a lot of questions. I wish I'd been there last week.