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About two million American men undergo transrectal biopsies each year to diagnose prostate cancer or to monitor low-risk and favorable intermediate-risk prostate cancers for active surveillance (AS).
Men on AS, like me, who have undergone routine transrectal biopsies may be warned that we face a 1-3% risk for sepsis infections in which nasty microbes from the rectum are spread to the bloodstream and wreak havoc. Many are not warned at all.
But it gets worse: A number of these men die or suffer disability from sepsis from transrectal biopsies, according to Richard Szabo, MD, a clinical associate professor of urology at the University of California Irvine.
Pocono Record
Thank you for running our piece about a month ago on Al Roker s diagnosis of Prostate cancer. We did not make clear in that piece that both authors, Howard and I, were diagnosed with prostate cancer many years ago and chose not to have treatment.
I decided on active surveillance monitoring of the cancer without treatment 15 years ago. The decision was based to a large extent on the potential of devastating side effects from treatment. I have not looked back. It is not the years in our lives that we seek, but the life in our years and our lives have been full without the encumbrance of side effects. Patience and much research launched me on this journey. At that time, you could not find people opting for AS.