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Is Prostate Cancer Hereditary?

Posted on Tue, 21 Oct 2014

Question: I am 51 years old and my father had prostate cancer when he was 65 years old. I have been on testosterone replacement for about 2 years now. I take 1 injection 1 time per week. My PSA levels have been averaging about 1.5 for the last few years. This week my results came back and it was 3.34. My doctor referred me to a urologist and this doctor is wanting to do a prostate biopsy. I have a lot of concerns about this but also understand my family history. What are your thoughts and is there anything you would recommend regarding this matter. The urologist did a DRE and he said his findings were normal.

Answered by Dr. Manuel C See IV (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Get a free PSA determination.

Detailed Answer:
Good Day and thank you for being with Healthcare Magic!

Exogenous testosterone therapy is proven to increase the PSA by 0.3-0.5ng/ml/yr. You are considered to have a higher risk for prostate cancer because of your family history. You have a very high spike of PSA and it doubled this year. I would suggest getting a free PSA determination since this would further guide us if a TRUS biopsy is warranted. If the FREE PSA ratio turns out to be low then you have a higher risk for prostate cancer.

DRE most of the time doesn't detect early prostate cancer.

I hope I have succeeded in providing the information you were looking for. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications at: http://www.HealthcareMagic.com/doctors/dr-manuel-c-see-iv/66014 I would gladly help you. Best wishes.

Regards,

Manuel C. See IV, M.D. DPBU FPUA

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar