Prostate Biopsies Reason Canadian Pharmacies Too Risky For Comfort

People over the age of 65 years are routinely advised to take prostate biopsies and check for cancerous growth. What was earlier thought to be a simple outpatient procedure is now found to create complications leading to stress and re-hospitalization. Canadian pharmacies believe the procedure is too risky to be implemented without a thorough checkup taking into consideration various factors including age.

Why Prostate Biopsies Are Done

Prostate cancer happens when cancerous cells in the prostate gland become malignant. Unfortunately, there are no early symptoms except for discomfort during urination. Doctors are usually careful and advise "watchful waiting" as the only alternate for prostate cancer is to undergo hormonal therapy, cryotherapy, chemotherapy, or radiation. Prostate biopsies therefore became a useful procedure to detect cancer at the early stages.

The procedure is a test wherein tissue samples are removed from the prostate using a thin needle inserted through the rectum. It is done if a lump appears on the prostate and needs to be diagnosed for cancer or if prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in the blood exceed normal levels.

Growing Risk of Prostate Biopsies

Needle biopsies done on detection of high PSA levels are found to cause severe infection by E coli, a strain of bacteria showing high resistance to antibiotics. Researchers have found an increasing number of cases needing hospitalization after biopsy. The risk of acquiring severe infection has doubled over the last 10 years, which made Canadian pharmacies follow up on the alarming trend.

Research conducted in Australia indicates a 2% chance of developing sepsis, a dangerous infection in the blood. Other researchers found 9/10,000 men with negative response to cancer died within 30 days of the biopsy.

A recent study published in the November 2011 issue of Journal of Urology indicates 7% senior citizens over the age of 65 years having undergone earlier prostate biopsies have to be hospitalized within 30 days of the procedure. The rate of hospitalization is nearly 2 times more than the rate at which an average pair person gets admitted to hospital.

An estimated 240,000 new cases of prostate cancer will occur in 2011 with over 33,000 facing death due to cancerous growth. The alarming figures have led to an increasing number of prostate biopsies being conducted. Every year, one million cases of prostate biopsies are registered for men on Medicare.

The current study was based on men over 65 years old on Medicare benefits from the year 1991 and 2007. A random sample of 5% indicated 17,472 had undergone prostate biopsies and 134,977 men were found without the procedure. Around 6.9% or 1,209 men were hospitalized within 30 days of the biopsy.

Besides antibiotic-resistant bacteria, patients also suffered from non-infectious complications; however, hospitalization was required for treatment of pneumonia and heart attack. It is important to understand the type of bacteria existing in a particular location before recommendation of prostate biopsies was given. A stronger antibiotic can always be prescribed before trying out the procedure.

People buy Proscar from Online Canadian pharmacies for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or enlarged prostate. In many cases, increase dosage of medication is sufficient to prevent infection and complications thereby reducing the number of people required to undergo prostate biopsy.