A
Prostate Biopsy
Can Be
Hazardous to Your Health

The prostate biopsy is one of the most senseless and potentially hazardous procedures involved in the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

In The New England Journal of medicine Dr. Fritz Schroder and Dr. Ries Krause from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands were asked if prostate biopsys really save lives. Their answer was, "No."

Only 1 out 4 of these biopsys was able to even detect cancer. The reason for this is: The way a prostate biospy is performed is a needle is inserted into the prostate gland. Then, very small sections of prostate tissue are extracted from 6 - 45 different areas within the prostate gland.

But, the needle may not even go where a cancer exists. Some call it the "needle in a haystack search".

A negative biopsy does not rule out prostate cancer. So, it is common to find repeat biopsys being performed. And still, any cancer may go undetected.

Prostate cancer, in most cases, does not travel. It remains confined to the prostate.

If the man actually does have prostate cancer, a prostate biopsy usually releases cancer cells into the blood stream. These cancer cells then travel through the body where they can potentially colonize and grow.

The importance of this knowledge is that when a body has a cancer tumor that is confined (as prostate cancer tumors usually are) you do not want to be breaking them up and sending the cells into a blood stream where the immune system is already unable to destroy mutating cells.

A normally healthy body easily destroys stray cancer cells.

When you really understand what cancer is, you know that cancer itself is not a localized condition. It is a condition of an impaired immune system. The tumor is really a symtom of the actual disease. It is not the disease itself.

You do not catch cancer like you catch a cold or the flu. This has been repeatedly proven in the 1950s and 1960s when live cancer cells were injected into healthy human subjects. The cancer cells simply could not survive and grow.

No biopsy should ever be considered a "routine" or simple procedure.

Even the US Preventative Services Task Force and The National Cancer Institute are opposed to routine PSA testing (the most widely used test for trying to detect cancer). The reason is, they believe the risks of follow-up tests (prostate biopsys) may outweigh the possible benefits.(ref: WebMD May 27, 2003)

A study at the Mayo Clinic shows that of 2,258 prostate biopsys, 17% were associated with at least 1 complication requiring further treatment.

Typical prostate biopsy complications include:

• Painful infection

The American Urological Association has a more comprehensive list of Complications from prostate biopsy.

1 out of 6 men will get prostate cancer. Out of that group only about 1 out of 10 cases is life threatening.

Tumors can be identified by other methods than prostate biopsy. This includes various imaging techniques such as computed tomography scans, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasonograms.

The main interest is in identifying tumors that are lifethreatening. The researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Cancer Institute and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center (PVAMC) developed a system used to predict whether a deadly prostate cancer tumor is present without a prostate biopsy. From the statistics on prostate biopsy complications and dangers, the OHSU system seems to be the most sane choice.

The OHSU system was presented on May 14, 2005, at the 41st annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncologists in Orlando, Fla.

Be Well.....

William