Biopsy dangers?

Is there any evidence of a prostate biopsy spreading cancer from the
nodule?
It just seems if PCa is always described as slow growing and
relatively confined, that penetrating the nodule with a needle and
drawing out 10-12 samples will speed up the spread, especially if no
treatment is opted for right away.

On October 15, "skeptic" inquired:

> Is there any evidence of a prostate biopsy spreading cancer from the
> nodule?

No.

This is a recurring myth.

Regards,

Steve J

Cancer of the prostate when it first begins is prostate dependent.......
It is after a while that it moves on.
This is what I have been told concerning cancer and biopsy.
The cancer in your prostate at that time is dependant on being in there.
When it spreads, it is already gotten independent.....
jloomis
"skeptic" <ribrass@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1192497373.978029.326680@i13g2000prf.googlegr oups.com...
> Is there any evidence of a prostate biopsy spreading cancer from the
> nodule?
> It just seems if PCa is always described as slow growing and
> relatively confined, that penetrating the nodule with a needle and
> drawing out 10-12 samples will speed up the spread, especially if no
> treatment is opted for right away.
>

"skeptic" <ribrass@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1192497373.978029.326680@i13g2000prf.googlegr oups.com...
> Is there any evidence of a prostate biopsy spreading cancer from the
> nodule?
> It just seems if PCa is always described as slow growing and
> relatively confined, that penetrating the nodule with a needle and
> drawing out 10-12 samples will speed up the spread, especially if no
> treatment is opted for right away.

When I researched this on Pubmed I found that there was
some evidence of a very small but non-zero chance of
spreading cancer along the track of the needle. Whether
this is significant or not is hard to say.

Prostate cancer, like many other cancers, originates in tissue
that cannot survive outside the prostate. It is only when the
disease develops further into more advanced stages that it
becomes capable of surviving outside the prostate. So I
don't know if anyone knows whether "needle tracking", in the
relatively rare case where it exists, poses any danger of
spread of the disease outside the prostate or not. It is
conceivable to me that, if the cancer has reached the point
where it is capable of surviving outside the prostate, it will
do so whether or not there is needle tracking.

My totally non-expert layman's guess is that the bottom line
on biopsy is: don't get them for fun (but I assure you they
aren't fun anyway), but if you don't know whether you have
cancer or not, the benefits of finding out whether you do and
how serious it might be far outweigh the very low odds of
new dangers created by the biopsy itself.

As far as I know, that is also the view of all cancer specialists
as well.

Alan

On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:16:13 -0700, skeptic <ribrass@aol.com> wrote:

>Is there any evidence of a prostate biopsy spreading cancer from the
>nodule?
>It just seems if PCa is always described as slow growing and
>relatively confined, that penetrating the nodule with a needle and
>drawing out 10-12 samples will speed up the spread, especially if no
>treatment is opted for right away.

I asked the same question here myself a couple of years ago. It seems
there's no answer satisfying enough for those inclined to ask the
question - like you, I'm a skeptic. OTOH, this needn't stand in the
way of proceeding along a 'best' path according to your own
evaluations of risk.