At what PSA reading should I start to worry after Prostrate removal

kahlua
kahlua Member Posts: 1
in Prostate Cancer #1

I developed cancer in my Prostrate a year and a half ago.  I take blood work for PSA every 6 months.  It has gone up a little each time and it's at 0.27.  My doctor has this 0.30 mark where he starts Radiation treatments for 25 days straight.  I've done a lot of research and most things I read says the once it starts going up, that something is brewing there and should be looked at further like MRI's, ultrasound ect.  I haven't had anything done.  What is your opinion on all this?  

Comments

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,707 Member
    #2

    Kahlua,

    Welcome to the board.

    Your post is ambiguous and it makes it difficult to understand your question and status.

    Have you done surgery?

    Or are you planning to undertake radition to treat your PCa case?

    After surgery (no prostate in place) the PSA should reach levels of remission below 0.06 ng/ml. In radiation treatments (with the prostate in place) the PSA will get lower (< 2.0) reaching similar levels but it may take years to get that low because the benign prostatic cells in the gland will continue producing the serum.

    Salvage Radiation done after surgery in recurrence cases should lead to PSA levels lower than 0.05 ng/ml.

    Image studies are usually done to locate the cancer but traditional equipments (CT, MRI, etc) may provide false negatives if the tumour is small in size (less than 7 mm). Therefore, in cases with low PSA levels negative results are typical. Newer techniques in image exams using contrast agents such as the C11 or FH18 in PET scans done together with a CT or MRI may assure better diagnosis at lower levels of PSA.

    Best wishes.

    VG 

     

  • Old Salt
    Old Salt Member Posts: 1,530 Member
    #3
    Salvage radiation?

    I gather that your prostate has been removed and that your doctor is recommending salvage radiation. But we don't know anything about the pathology of the prostate that was removed. Can you tell us, so that we can provide better advice? For instance, it is important to know the location(s) of the cancer(s). Were any nodules cancerous?

    PS: to my knowledge, current scan techniques won't show anything at a PSA level of 0.3.

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