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Post-biopsy testicular infection

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Posted 1/8/2007 3:38 PM (GMT -8)
My dad had a biopsy of his prostate over 2 weeks ago and was diagnosed with cancer (early stage, localized).  Since then, he developed a systemic infection with a high fever, which he recovered from, but now has a testicular infection that is not responding to antibiotics.  He's pretty much bed-ridden.  Has anyone experienced this type of infection?  He's normally extremely active - was a marathoner for years - so staying at home all day is driving him bonkers.  I'm worried about him.

Thanks for your help and support.

Posted 1/9/2007 6:08 AM (GMT -8)

Sarita,

In the four to five months that I have been participating in this forum I have not heard of anyone having a testicular problem following a biopsy.  In reading information on prostate biopsy I have never read any potential side effect involving a testicular infection.  My urologist did nt mention anything to me that this was a possibility.  Is your dad's urologist saying that his infection is the result of the biopsy?  In trying to understand how this could happen I only can surmise that at the time of the biopsy your dad had a prostate infection and somehow the biopsy caused it to travel along the Vas Deferns to the testicles.  I am no doctor or knowledgable about medical topics but it seems to me that the urologist must of done something that he should not have done.

Hope your dad begins to get better soon and that the results of his biopsy turn out negative.

Tamu

Posted 1/9/2007 8:27 AM (GMT -8)

Thanks for replying, Tamu. 

My father is a retired physician, 72 years old.  This is what happened: a night or two after his biopsy he developed a fever and shaking chills, which generally indicates a systemic infection.  I hear this is a common occurrence and prophylactic antibiotics are generally given to patients before the procedure.  However, the prophylactic dose didn't work on my dad for some reason.  He was immediately started on oral Cipro, and within a day or two the fever and chills went away...but he developed severe pain and his urologist (chief of urology at a major urban medical center) told him he he had a testicular infection.  It's now day 14 and he is only slightly better, but still can't move around. 

His biopsy results were positive.  He's not sure if he wants to treat it.  Otherwise, he is in perfect health.  Trim and fit, still pretty sharp mentally, etc.  They say he's not a good candidate for surgery because of his age and he's not sure about radiation because of the possibility of incontinence. 

What do you think are options to consider in deciding when/if to treat the cancer?

Posted 1/9/2007 1:13 PM (GMT -8)
Hi Sarita,

Sorry to hear about your father's problems. Being a retired physian, he knows more about the situation than I will ever know so I can only relate my own experiences with surgery. You can see my stats at the bottom of the page. I chose to have surgery because I wanted to give the doc the best possible chance of getting rid of the cancer as soon as possible. I chose RRP because I wanted the doc to have a personal view of my insides and to be able to apply his skill directly to my problem without having to go throught any technology to get there.

I have had an excellent result so far - very little pain in recovery, no leaks after the first 8 hours after the catheter came out, catheter came out after 6 days, PSA after 22 days was 0.04. I don't think that my age (72) was a detering factor at all and look forward to dying from something other than prostate cancer.

Good luck...

Jim
Posted 1/9/2007 8:29 PM (GMT -8)

Hi Sarita

I am not sure that this would be tremendously helpful, but I have experienced two infections and one really bad pain since having my biopsy and my radical retropubic prostatectomy in December 05.

The first was a prostate infection from the biopsy. Had antibiotics to clear that up.

The second was a pain that seemed to be coming from the perineum, like someone shoved a burning rod into my body between the rectum and the scrotum. This, from a urinalysis, turned out to be a bladder infection after the prostatectomy. More antibiotics for that.

The third pain I had was in my scrotum - I thought it was the testes. I thought I had testicular cancer as well as the PCa. I went for an ultrasound of the testes and my pain turned out to be caused by varicoceles. Lots of pain but no fever associated with it. Still, I find that the pain at times is debilitating - sometimes just steady throbs. I need to get the celes dealt with but haven't yet since my prostatectomy was followed up with EBRT radiation sessions in 06. My urologist said let's deal with the more important PCa treatments, then do the varicoceles later in 07.

Since your father is a retired physician he probably has already ruled out varicoceles, but an ultrasound of the testes might show something.

Just an idea! Hope he finds out soon what is causing the problem.

Rufus (Russ)

Posted 1/9/2007 8:52 PM (GMT -8)
Biker - it's heartening to hear that you had the surgery at 72 and are doing so well so soon afterwards.  Thank you for sharing that - I hope things continue to go well for you.  I should do a Medline search or something about men in their 70's who have had the surgery, get something statistical that would satisfy my dad's scientific side. 

Rufus - sounds like you have been through a lot and I hope you feel better soon.  I hope those treatments do what they're supposed to!  What you describe sounds like what my dad is experiencing - really tough pain, especially on exertion.  I remember now that they told him his first infection was a urinary tract infection, which caused the shaking chills, fever, etc.  Now he just has the pain, no fever. 

Thank you again for your help; I feel pretty helpless living 5,000 miles away from him but reading your posts eases my mind a bit.

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