Anglo-Australian Masculinities and Trans Rectal Ultrasound Prostate Biopsy (TRUS-Bx): Connections and Collisions

Abstract

Prostate cancer continues to attract research funding and political attention as the complexities of the disease are unraveled and debated in a uniquely public men’s health forum. Screening guidelines and treatment modalities have been featured in prostate cancer research. However, some areas worthy of research are conspicuous by their absence. One such area that has attracted little research is a common diagnostic procedure for prostate cancer, the trans rectal ultrasound prostate biopsy (TRUS-Bx). The TRUS-Bx procedure involves the passing of needles through the rectal wall into the prostate gland in order to retrieve six-12 prostate tissue specimens for analysis. This ethnographic research study explores 14 Anglo-Australian men’s experiences of TRUS-Bx, administered without local or general anesthesia, as a diagnostic procedure for suspected prostate cancer. A social constructionist gendered analysis reveals intricate connections between participants’ experiences of the TRUS-Bx procedure and masculinities.