Perineurial Invasion
So I had my prostate removed this week and have received the path results. It states that the tumor is pT2 and does not show EPE and not present in bladder neck, etc. Under perineurial invasion it states it’s confirmed with positive margin. My understanding was a pT2 tumor meant everything was contained. Does the positive margin on the PNI simply mean it was present within the nerve of the prostate but has not exited into the surrounding tissues? My needle biopsy also showed presence of PNI but my dr didn’t seem concerned. BTW, my final Gleason was 3+4=7 and 3+3=6 with a PSA of 5.5. My dr will not discuss over the telephone and I don’t have a follow up for two weeks. Kinda anxious.
Hi
. Your anxiety on waiting for explanations is understandable. I want to share with you this article on stages: https://prostatecancer.net/diagnosis/stages. You are correct that T2 does mean that it appears the cancer did not expand beyond the prostate. As this article notes, positive surgical margins (PSM) location is and independent predictor of biochemical recurrence and perineural invasion (PNI) is a non-independent risk factor: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7427290/. Unfortunately, your doctor will have to interpret what your particular PSM and PNI say about your case. That said it is excellent news that your cancer was contained and the Gleason score was low. Please feel free to keep us posted on how you are doing. Best, Richard (ProstateCancer.net Team)
