In the fight against prostate cancer nothing is more important than early detection. Many patients are so afraid about hearing bad news that they do not inquire as to the location where their biopsy will be diagnosed. Are all diagnosis the same?
Instructions
1. Ask your urologist to send your biopsies to a "fellowship trained uro-pathologist" and preferably to a laboratory that specialized in urologic pathology, there are several around the country.
2. If your insurance makes your urologist send your biopsies to a large general laboratory or a hospital laboratory ask the physician to write on the lab request "to be diagnosed by a fellowship trained uropathologist only"
3. If all fails and your biopsies get diagnosed by a general pathologist excercize your right for second opinion (if your biopsies are malignant it is also a good idea to get a second opinion). Ask your urologist to request the lab to send your slides to a fellowship trained uro-pathologist.
4. For those with an extra $500+ you could do an additional DNA test to ensure they did not do a mix-up at the lab and gave you someone else's diagnosis. While this is extremely rare, especially in the US, it should be considered if the treatment is radical prostatectomy. In this process which can be performed at John Hopkins university they match the DNA from a buckle swab to the tissue on the malignant slides. This may be over-kill but so is removing the prostate.
5. Best of Luck and good news!!
Tags: your biopsies, fellowship trained, send your, your urologist, your urologist send
