Question:

What does the “3 percent” mean when the doctor advised my father that he has 3 percent prostate cancer? Doctor did advise that he may have 10 more years to live. My father is 76 and has had several procedures done within the last 5 months and is unable to cease the plavix for even 7 days for at least one year in order to do the cryo procedure for the cancer. Is there any other type of procedure that can be done with the continuation of the plavix?

Answer:

I don’t know for sure what his doctor was referring to but I assume he meant 3% of the biopsy had cancer. There are many options other than cryotherapy. In fact active surveillance may be a very resonable option in addition to radiation. I think it is important to discuss these options with your doctor.

For more information:

Go to the Prostate Cancer health topic.