Should I be concerned?

DRT

I’m 67 and was diagnosed w/low grade prostate cancer (3+3 Gleason) early ‘23, had brachytherapy procedure first of June and now, have tested w/ultrasensitive PSA of 2.79. Don’t see my Doctor for more than a week now… what am I likely facing as next steps?

Old Salt

No reason to be concerned IMHO. I didn't go to medical school but I think that your doc will recommend continued testing at three months intervals.

DRT

Thank you so much. I was hoping so, but it’s nice to hear, especially from an “old salt” ;-)

Clevelandguy

Hi,

Your PSA should stabilize and then hopefully stay near that number in the future. From what I understand Brachy does not kill the whole Prostate so you should alway have some PSA number. The main thing is that it does not trend upward. The number could bounce around a little over time. Keep on testing……….

Dave 3+4

centralPA

Which brachytherapy? LDR or HDR?

DRT

Brachytherapy in June.

DRT

Not sure which

DRT

LDR brachytherapy

Old Salt

Concur with Clevelandguy.

I had extensive radiotherapy. My PSA went as high as 1.8 a few years after treatment, but appears to have settled at 1.0 ng/mL (nine years later). One never knows though what the future will hold. Currently testing once a year.

centralPA

I know the LDR brachytherapy is a low dose over time approach. It takes time.

This paper says that in general it takes 44 months (almost 4 years!) for your PSA to bottom out, with a gradual descent rate throughout.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1538472120301434

This one talks about how an early bounce can actually be a positive thing. Shows there are some processes at work that likely improve your response.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41391-021-00387-4