Being to cautious, or is this a reasonable decision

[thegremlin]

I am a 47 year old male, relatively healthy with cystic acne (under some control with antibiotic medication), borderline high cholesterol , high blood pressure that’s under control, PSA reading of 0.3 and the only family history of cancer in the family was an aunt on my mother’s side and an older sister, both with breast cancer.

Recently I went for my annual exam and had my first DRE, my internist thought he might have felt something on the left half and suggested I get a second opinion from “a more educated finger” as he put it, and recommended a urologist.

I went to the urologist who did his own DRE, and said there was something there, but he believed it wasn’t even on the prostrate but on the lingular, more than likely a cyst. After a brief discussion he said he wanted to just be sure about what he found and wants to schedule me for a transrectal ultrasound and twelve point  biopsy. I personally would choose not to have the biopsy unless absolutely necessary, call me a coward.

Please your thoughts, is he being to cautious, or is this a reasonable decision

[Ash Tewari, MD, M.Ch.]

Thank you for your question. Often times a diagnosis of prostate cancer is often elusive. This is because the primary diagnostic tool, a PSA test through a blood draw, is unspecific towards a cancer diagnosis and benign disease.

A prostate biopsy would be prudent because of the positive DRE findings by your two clinicians.

Sincerely,

Ash K. Tewari, MD