PSA TEST RESULTS

Why

RadHop

Your question is ambiguous. You need to share with us details of your PSA hystology and treatment so that we would understand facts. The latests increased result could be good it it is from a blood sample unmasked of the effects of the hormonal shot.

As far as I know, in your previous post about your case you indicated that the last Lupron 4-months shot of your treatment full protocol was done in January 2014. This means that all PSA results done in 2014 were under the influence of the hormonal treatment therefore not useful to define your nadir. You need more tests to ascertain the nadir that could be must higher then the latest 1.41 because you got your gland in place.

Your link; http://csn.cancer.org/node/272151

Regards,

VG  

RADIATION HOPEFUL said:

PSA Nadir after ending Radiation /Hormone treatments

I was on hormone therapy for 3 years (4 month shot last received on January 2, 2014.)  So, I guess the affects of the shots would end April.  Is this correct?  Also, my first test taken after stopping hormone therapy was 9/9/14 and showed my PSA at .52 and Testosterone Total at 545.  This latest test 1/20/15 showed an increase in my PSA to 1.41.  

Is it possible to have a Nadir of 1.41 or is this indicative of failure.  Do I need another test to determine my Nadir?  Can someone be cured with PSA 1.41?

 

Thank you for the response --Radiation Hopeful

 

At least 3 tests

I think you are reasoning well. The tests on 9/9/14 with a PSA at 0.52 and Testosterone at 545 are the “real unmasked” initial results of your post treatment. In any case, only with more periodical tests one can certify the marker PSA=0.52 as your Nadir. You could be experiencing PSA bounce which occurs in some RT patients (with the prostate in place).

Typically doctors follow up with periodical tests (at least three numbers) to ascertain progression before declaring any recurrence. Only after those results one can very his nadir. The last result (1.41) could very well be your nadir but you need to certify it

 

Here are some links of interest to you;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12705989

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4471-2864-9_68

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/prostatecancer/detailedguide/prostate-cancer-treating-p-s-a-levels-after-treatment

 

Best wishes,

VGama

 

A Single increase may be a false alarm

Lumpy

Welcome to the board. Surely any increase in the PSA pos prostatectomy is of concern, however, tiny increases or decreases could be due to causes other than cancer activity.
Some laboratory assays have their tolerances in the bracket of 0.05 to 0.005 which in a rounding up informatics system would “inflate” the result.

The best way to be certain is by repeating the test but in a case of very low PSA, one may continue his periodical follow-up testing practice and draw conclusions once several constant increases (3 or 4 times) are confirmed.

The typical PSA level used as the reference of recurrence is PSA=>0.20 ng/ml. Yours 0.09 is very far from this value. In any case, if such occurrence would be validated in the future you would not lose anything in terms of salvage treatment outcomes by doing it when the PSA reaches levels close or above 0.4.
Your age in the 70th will not be a burden but you would need to be fit for a radiation “attack”.

You can try changing your diet to something better against cancer. Here is a copy of interest to you;
http://cancer.ucsf.edu/_docs/crc/nutrition_prostate.pdf

Best wishes for a false alarm.

VGama