It sounds like you’ve had quite a flare up and have found yourself caught up in the worrying and unfamiliar process of getting an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment for whatever’s going on with your prostate. It can seem very daunting. This site and forum has a wealth of useful information and I’m new here myself.
I was recently diagnosed with prostatitis after raised PSA, BPH symptoms, an MRI scan (showing extremely suspicious areas) and subsequent biopsy (which was clear). I’m on antibiotics now and am hoping that’s it, for now…
It sounds like your own symptoms were so severe that the doctors decided it best to hospitalise and start antibiotic treatment before an MRI could be scheduled due to waiting lists. I expect you realise that just because you may have prostatitis doesn’t necessarily mean you will either have or not have PCa. Also, since you were recently hospitalised with symptoms diagnosed as prostatitis then it would be consistent with that diagnosis and your own recent history for your PSA to be raised (it tends to jump when there is prostatitis / inflammation in the prostate) and for your MRI to show “something” relating to the inflammation. The MRI scan images require expert interpretation and from what I’m learning it seems that even if the results are apparently clear of PCa the practice can be to call patients in to deliver and discuss them in person. The MRI result is, after all, just one piece in a potentially much larger diagnostic jigsaw and if you haven’t already had any form of biopsy one thing likely worth considering and discussing at your appointment, whatever the results, is whether or not to have a biopsy. It is possible the consultant will be happy with the original diagnosis and not recommend a biopsy just as it’s possible s/he may recommend biopsy or wish to refer the MRI results to a multi disciplinary team for further discussion before recommending the next step. If you’ve had previous PSA tests they will likely be relevant too (has your PSA been rising steadily over time, or is it possible your recent flare up and raised PSA happened suddenly?).
I hope your meeting with the consultant goes well, and again please be assured that being called in to a results meeting does not necessarily mean bad news.
Edited by member 21 Apr 2024 at 01:38
| Reason: Tidy up