Prostate Biopsy

[Pattayatony]

This is for a friend of mine. He needs a Prostate Biopsy and would like to know what the cost would be. Anyone on TV had experience with this? If he chooses Bumrungrad Hospital what would the cost be?

Cheers Tony

[Luckydog]

This is for a friend of mine. He needs a Prostate Biopsy and would like to know what the cost would be. Anyone on TV had experience with this? If he chooses Bumrungrad Hospital what would the cost be?

Cheers Tony

What makes your fiend think he needs a Biopsy? Ask the Urologist for some Antibiotics incase he simply has an infected prostate.

Anyway, I had a Biopsy in Queen Sirijit Hospital Sattahip a few months ago. Stayed in a simple room for three days and the total cost with antibiotics was about 10000bht. The Urologist was excellent.

[ProThaiExpat]

I am quite surprised that a biopsy of the prostate would require hospitalization.

The prostate is easily accessible and such a small quantity is required that I thought it was an outpatient procedure. Am I wrong?

Sheryl where are you?

[musiclover]

This is for a friend of mine. He needs a Prostate Biopsy and would like to know what the cost would be. Anyone on TV had experience with this? If he chooses Bumrungrad Hospital what would the cost be?

Cheers Tony

45,000 baht at BPH.!!!!! One night only first time and out the same day the second. Paid by BUPA!!

Expensive? You bet .... but this is BPH!!

BTW So far clear!

Good luck

[Pattayatony]

This is for a friend of mine. He needs a Prostate Biopsy and would like to know what the cost would be. Anyone on TV had experience with this? If he chooses Bumrungrad Hospital what would the cost be?

Cheers Tony

Thanks Guys for taking the time to reply. I have passed on the info and now its up to him which choice he makes.

Cheers Tony

[Luckydog]

I am quite surprised that a biopsy of the prostate would require hospitalization.

The prostate is easily accessible and such a small quantity is required that I thought it was an outpatient procedure. Am I wrong?

Sheryl where are you?

Don't worry about Sheryl PTE, she hasn't been through a Biopsy for Prostate Cancer I have!

The first day starts at about 12pm. With tests and antibiotics etc.

On the Op day you feel OK afterwards, but cartwheels are out of the question. More medication....

Third day. More medication BP checks etc. Some people start to bleed. I was ok and left after Lunch.

Although nobody can be 100% certain. I seem to be clear. Thank God!

The food was a bit off, but the care was excellent. I recommend the Urologist and the Sirijit Hospital.

The only thing about these inexpensive Hospitals is the waiting......take a good book!

[ProThaiExpat]

luckydog: If you would, did you have a PSI before your biopsy as well as a digital prostate exam and were either of them indicative of a need for the biopsy?

Did they use a needle for the biopsy or did they cut you open to remove a smidgen of tissue?

I have had two biopsy's done, one on the chest and one on the hand. Both outpatient with local anesthetic. Doesn't the prostate lay close to the skin so access is easy?

I am puzzeld due to ignorance of the procedure.

[mugopp]

I'm puzzled with the 3 day hospital stay. I was in & out in 3 hours. If my PSA test would have been normal, I wouldn't have gotten a biopsy. I have Microscopic Prostate cancer.

The cost for biopsy was 12,000 baht.

Will be going to the hospital this Wednesday to butcher it with the Da Vinci System.(Prostatectomy)

If I had wanted, i could have done cartwheels after the biopsy, but at 66 I decided against it.

Hope this helps

[tim armstrong]

I'm puzzled with the 3 day hospital stay. I was in & out in 3 hours. If my PSA test would have been normal, I wouldn't have gotten a biopsy. I have Microscopic Prostate cancer.

The cost for biopsy was 12,000 baht.

Will be going to the hospital this Wednesday to butcher it with the Da Vinci System.(Prostatectomy)

If I had wanted, I could have done cartwheels after the biopsy, but at 66 I decided against it.

Hope this helps

I'm puzzled by the hospital stay too. Sounds like a money grab to me. Usually a biopsy is an outpatient procedure, and takes 1-2hrs depending on the number of samples taken. It's only necessary if your friend's PSA reading is high (above 10) (normal is 0-4), and prostatitis has been ruled out. Mine was 15 at first, then 25 after a month of antibiotics didn't work for suspected prostatitis. ONLY then did I have a biopsy, and a bonescan. After which cancer was confirmed. Be sure your friend finds a urologist and/or oncologist he can trust as there are several different pathways to follow in both investigation and treatment if necessary. Also worth checking his home country for costs,- in Australia most checks and treatments are covered by the public health system.

Cheers, Tim

[Luckydog]

luckydog: If you would, did you have a PSI before your biopsy as well as a digital prostate exam and were either of them indicative of a need for the biopsy?

Did they use a needle for the biopsy or did they cut you open to remove a smidgen of tissue?

I have had two biopsy's done, one on the chest and one on the hand. Both outpatient with local anesthetic. Doesn't the prostate lay close to the skin so access is easy?

I am puzzeld due to ignorance of the procedure.

Yes Mate, I did have 'the finger' and a couple of PSA Tests which were 12 which indicated a need for Biopsy.

It was a needle job I believe up the Kyber......

But suggest you search and read my horror story about what happened before the Biopsy at Sri Racha Hospital.

Incidentally, Beer and Whisky both raise your PSA level I am told. So lay off the booze for a few days before having your PSA done.

My last test read 16! so I have been on Antibiotics for a few weeks. Had another test today.

Don't know what it came out to yet......

[dukkha]

As a 61 year old male this is an important issue...I am a little confused

by the postings..For me I had the PSA test along with the other conventional

blood tests for cholesterol, sugar levels etc...received a 0.58 reading.......

This did not alert my cardio surgeon to any abnormality. I guess that

if it were significantly high he would have made the suggestion that I

undergo a biopsy which has already been discussed on this thread.

The cost of the 'blood letting' at BNH for all the blood tests, including

the Prostate component was about 4000 baht, pathology department

services I guess...Dont know if this is of any assistance as it seems there

is a level of confusion as to who and why needs to undergo the biopsy

test. This procedure I do not know about but best wishes to any of you

who may need to do so...gawd getting old is so cruel... Dukkha

[kennkate]

This is for a friend of mine. He needs a Prostate Biopsy and would like to know what the cost would be. Anyone on TV had experience with this? If he chooses Bumrungrad Hospital what would the cost be?

Cheers Tony

[kennkate]

This is for a friend of mine. He needs a Prostate Biopsy and would like to know what the cost would be. Anyone on TV had experience with this? If he chooses Bumrungrad Hospital what would the cost be?

Cheers Tony

[kennkate]

This is for a friend of mine. He needs a Prostate Biopsy and would like to know what the cost would be. Anyone on TV had experience with this? If he chooses Bumrungrad Hospital what would the cost be?

Cheers Tony

Hi am in the Uk at the moment I have had 2 Biopsy done in the past both in 2000 my PSA is still high around the 12 mark doctor here wants to check PSA at 6 weeks and again after another 6 weeks I think if thay keep going up he will send me for biopsy again The problem I have at the moment is that my Thia lady is in the UK with me on a 6 month marrage Visa that will expire Feb 4th

If I come back to Thialand before I have any treatment (if needed) I would have to pay for it and I just dont know how much it would all cost. Problem is I wont find out untill Jan, and if have to have Biopsy it might be wise to stay until I get the results. If treatment is required what is the cost and level of care ?

We had decided to return to Thailand and live there To live here in the UK and bring her 2 kids would be much more expensive so I was thinking to sell my house in the Uk Put the cash left after paying the mortgage in the bank probably 25000 Uk pounds and live on my income from pension plan aprox 14000 pounds per year

[sfokevin]

Gory details...

http://men.webmd.com/men-medical-reference/prostate-biopsy

Think I would like the 3 day version where you are COMPLETE sedated and unconscious ....

[farangene]

Gory details...

http://men.webmd.com/men-medical-reference/prostate-biopsy

Think I would like the 3 day version where you are COMPLETE sedated and unconscious ....

I have had p. biopsy done 4 times- once in USA and 3 times in Bkk. It's a bit uncomfortable but you don't need sedation, don't need local anasthesia and definitely don't need to stay in hosp over night, let alone 3 days. It takes 20 minutes at most for the actual biopsy for about 18 or 20 tissue samples. Cheapest place to do it in bkk is at Chula hospital for about 2,000 B. Bumr. wants to charge about 60,000 for anasth. and hosp stay. Totally unnecessary and can easily do as an out patient.

[ignoramus]

Prostate biopsy/screening cr_a_p.

I've just discovered this post - don't know how I missed it earlier, though I note that one post is dated June and the next is November???

I don't doubt that there are some amazingly marvellous spectacular world-class specialists in dear old Thailand...but...maaaate...I'm talking Australia. For those who just do not know, we are waaaay up there.

I am 67. I shall leave well enough alone. My fears were assuaged long ago. I won't go on....just get into the Sydney Morning Herald - www. smh. com. au, and in the Search field key in 'simon chapman prostate'.

It'll bring up the SMH of Nov 5. This guy is a professor, he'll ease your totally completely unfounded fears about this subject, and unsteady you if you've delved too deeply into the matter, clinically-wise. Don't you guys use GOOGLE???

(Oh, and ignore women on this subject. Show me a woman who's had her digit up there, professionally speaking, and I may listen, but otherwise...oh, puhlease).

[Sheryl]

Well, as a woman who has professionally been "up there"...I don't know what's in the link just mentioned, but every man past say age 40 should have regular PSAs, and any man with an elevated PSA and/or palpable prostate mass should have a biopsy...at least once. Older men often suffer from what is called "benign prostatic hypertrophy'(BPH) and for them it is not necessary to do repeated biopsies, just follow PSAs once an initial biopsy has confirmed that it is benign hyopertrophy.

The only exception to the above advice is for the very elderly (or otherwise terminally ill). It is true that cancer of the prostrate is usually slow in progressing, and there is much debate about the need to agressively test or treat in men whose likely life expectancy is shorter than the bnatural progression of a possible cancer.

A straightfoward prostate biopsy is an out-patient procedure.. Usually done under no or local anesthetic -- all that is involved is insertion of a needle. (Granted, insertion into a place you would much prefer NOT to have a needle inserted, but still..we're not talking scalpels). General anesthesia would be serious overkill, but by all means ask for sedation to calm you down before and during if you like. (but then don't plan on driving home, of course). After care is a matter of observing for bleeding and recovery from sedation if any was used.

Exceptions arise if there is a concurrent prostatitis, in which case there might be a need for antibitoics prior to biopsy, or if there is a need to biopsy more than the prostate, e.g. if bladder also need biopsy, in which case deep sedation or general anesthesia and overnight hosp stay may possibly be needed. A more extensive biopsy like this would be in cases where ultrsound results are suspicipous for spread of cancer beyond the prostate itself.

The posters who described 3 night hospital stays either fell into the more complicated categories mentioned above or were ripped off/mismanaged.

For simple prostate biopsy without complications mentioned above, insist on a same day procedure if the hospital proposes an expensive inpatient package, and you'll find that the cost quoted plummets downward.

[ThaidleHands]

Mods, please fix the typo in the thread title.

[ignoramus]

A few years ago I was reading a Time mag in a doctor's surgery. I wasn't young then either, so with not insignificant interest I perused a snippet on the PSA test. The magic number quoted was 2+. Today I read, on Time's site, that the magic number is now 1.5+. Oh well.

Times change, opinions change, opinions differ. Eye of newt is probably still considered good medicine somewhere or other. Sometimes a little heat enters the picture, what with professional pride n'all (and unfortunately sometimes such pride is self-serving). A couple decades back medical students here were asked their reasons for studying medicine. Sixty-five percent said 'for the money'. Oh well.

(If next week some genius invented a magic bullet for absolutely everything, where would that leave our medicos. Out of work. Imagine all those empty first-class seats. But at least the genius would be a zillionaire).

About 30-35 years ago I used to visit the main library in Sydney to peruse the Medical Journal of Australia, Lancet plus the American journals - anything written in my first language. I didn't study them, just read bits and pieces of interest. The main thing I learnt was that 'a second opinion' is a neat idea. In those days one never heard of such a concept, though of course the rich doubtless ordered their medicos to provide a second name.

The Aussie medical journal article (re the prostate) of this week is currently embargoed (www. mja. com. au), but only temporarily. Prof. Simon Chapman is one of the contributors.

If you were asked if you thought your chances of getting hit by a motor vehicle while crossing the road were 'not insignificant' you would doubtless concur. It's why you keep both eyes open in traffic.

Your chances are not 'significant', but they are 'not insignificant'.

Professor Chapman in his Nov 5 article in the Sydney Morning Herald (www. smh. com. au) :- 'a not insignificant rate of serious infection like septicaemia arising from biopsies'. (I seem to recall reading somewhere that antibiotics are gradually becoming less effective - but I'm often wrong).

A decade or two ago, in Florida I think, a surgeon removed a patient's good leg. I don't know if it was re-attached, or even re-attachable back then, but one imagines the bad leg also eventually came off. Mistakes occur, even amongst the elite. There's even a word for doctor-induced trauma/illness.

Many years ago Israeli doctors went on strike, for a month I think. People faired better.

Chapman :- 'no government anywhere recommends prostate screening', plus 'The International Union Against Cancer does not support it'.

And he says that 47% of prostate cancer deaths occur in men over 80! We here in Oz consider 80 to be quite a 'good innings', mate.

This isn't tendentious, I just reckon you guys deserve a little more input, a less worry. Cheers.

[zzdocxx]

That is an interesting commentary, though it took me a while to figure out where you were going with it.

Wish you would post more here.

However, we don't have all the info, we just know his friend "needs a biopsy". On the face of it, that indicates to this is not something that is contemplated for screening purposes -- rather that he has already got other postive findings.

I am just posting this for the sake of discussion. It was interesting reading about your perspectives and I have to agree that as new data emerges, practices change and then sometimes change back again.

Thanks!

[Sheryl]

Bear in m ind that government recommendations are influenced by financial considerations...they have to bear the cost of any screening they recommend.

The American Cancer Society's recommendation with regard to prostate screening is as follows:

"Prostate Cancer

Both the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and digital rectal examination (DRE) should be offered annually, beginning at age 50, to men who have at least a 10-year life expectancy. Men at high risk (African-American men and men with a strong family of one or more first-degree relatives [father, brothers] diagnosed before age 65) should begin testing at age 45. Men at even higher risk, due to multiple first-degree relatives affected at an early age, could begin testing at age 40. Depending on the results of this initial test, no further testing might be needed until age 45. ""

Revised: 03/28/2007