The Prostate Biopsy

A prostate biopsy is used to verify the presence of prostate cancer. It is an uncomplicated procedure that takes about 15 minutes and doesn't require anesthesia. During this procedure (transrectal ultrasound or TRUS) a surgeon places a slender ultrasound device into the patient’s rectum. This device produces sound waves to make an image of the prostate. Directed by the ultrasound image a surgeon slides a tiny needle (1.2 millimeters in diameter) through the rectal wall into the prostate gland to gather a sample of cells from the prostate and brings it to a pathologist to differentiate cancerous and non-cancerous cells.

Prostate enlargement leans to be small and can be situated anywhere on the prostate. That’s why surgeons take several samples (usually about six) from different parts of the prostate. Though, sometimes it is required to take up to 47 samples in a search for cancer. In this case the procedure involves anesthesia.

The side effects of biopsy may be the following: fear of the biopsy that can cause more problems than the actual biopsy; small amounts of blood in the stools, urine, or semen in few days after a biopsy; severe bleeding or infections of the prostate or urinary tract caused by biopsy (in 1% of cases). There is still a possibility for cancerous cells to fail to be noticed regardless the amount of taken samples. So a negative biopsy result does not always guaranty the absence of cancer.