PSA after Salvage Radiation

Pbentley
Pbentley Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Prostate Cancer #1
Recognize some of you from 2 years ago when I first posted news of my husbands pc. That's a good thing. Since Nov/05, with PSA of 26 and gleason 8, he has had a RP. PSA initialy went to 0, didn't quite make a yr before psa rose to .07, then .11, began salvage radiation in Jun 07. 6 weeks after radiation psa was at .19 Radiation oncologist suggested we not have any further psa tests until Apr/08 as it will get us too hung up on the psa numbers.
Has anyone else had any psa experiences with salvage treatment?

Deb

Comments

  • AuthorUnknown
    AuthorUnknown Member Posts: 1,537 Member
    #2
    Hello Deb,

    For additional information, you may also want to contact the American Cancer Society's National Cancer Information Center. Cancer Information Specialists are available 24 hours a day and can assist you with informaiton on salvage radiation for prostate cancer and PSA monitoring. They can be reached at 1-800-227-2345.

    I wish you and your husband the very best.

    Take care and be well,

    Dana
    CSN Dana
  • Wifeof
    Wifeof Member Posts: 1
    #3
    PSA after Salvage Radiation

    I realize your post is old, but I am really curious how things turned out and what came next. My husband had RP in Novemeber of 2019, never went to undeterctable and was rapidly doubling although very small so he did salvage radiaiton and for a year and a half was undetectable. Now he is just barely detectable but the doctor considers his radiation failed. When numbers are low how concerned should we be. I would like an honest assesment of the situation.

    Thank yoiu!

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,641 Member
    edited October 2021 #4
    Three consecutive increases from nadir

    Hi wife,

    It is common to use the PSA to evaluate the outcome of a treatment but not all doctors use the same PSA level as their threshold to confirm RP or RT failure.

    Typically, after RP a PSA of less than 0.05 ng/ml considers the situation as successful (in remission). Values greater than this threshold indicate biochemical failure and when the PSA reaches above 0.20 the situation is considered as recurrence (in need of SRT). 

    After SRT the PSA can take 6 to 12 months to reach its nadir level (lower than 1.0 ng/ml). Recurrence in SRT cases (failure) is declared if the PSA shows three consecutive increases from the nadir, in three tests that were done over three weeks or more apart.

    The term undetectable is ambiguous in such recurrence cases. Can you share his PSA histology (dates and values) and Gleason score since diagnosis. Typically the PSA test is done every three months during a period of two years after RP and every fourth month after SRT. 

    Best wishes. 

    VGama 

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