Prostate biopsy is a procedure designed to establish whether there is a cancer in your prostate. It is usually done by imaging the prostate with a specially designed ultrasound probe, which is inserted into the rectum via the back passage. The prostate size is measured, local anaesthetic is injected and samples of the prostate are then taken with a needle, which makes a clicking noise as it is operated. Up to 10 samples are taken depending on the size of the gland. It carries a small risk of introducing infection, so you will be given an antibiotic at the time of the procedure, together with a prescription for a short course of antibiotics to continue over the subsequent days. It is also quite common to see blood in both the urine and the motion over the subsequent few days, but this is very rarely anything to worry about, and usually stops very promptly. Some men may also see blood in their semen afterwards, and this can take a few weeks to settle completely. The most worrying thing of course is the result, and this can take up to 2 weeks to come back. If the biopsy does show the presence of cancer, then the implications of this will be fully discussed with you. If no cancer is found, this means that there is either no cancer, or if there is, it is so small as not to be detectable, so further follow up will be arranged so that if a cancer does subsequently grow, it may be caught in good time.