IS a 0.47 PSA result GOOD?

RADIATION HOPEFUL
RADIATION HOPEFUL Member Posts: 218
in Prostate Cancer #1
Hello ALL & MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE

I got my latest PSA blood check yesterday & it came back 0.47 which is the lowest reading I evere had. I was wondering if this is a good sign of potential cure? (Responses welcome)
THANKS To EVERYONE on this site for the fantastic replies & concerns during the past year.

Cordially

Rad Hopeful

Comments

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,701 Member
    #2
    Is it an earlier Christmas present?
    This is wonderful to read about your 0.47. Again another decrease and another moment to celebrate.
    Nobody can tell you that such means cure but surely it means that the treatment has nock the cancer down.
    I wouldn’t be surprised for another post of yours reporting about another decrease. Keep them coming.

    MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU too

    VG
  • Kongo
    Kongo Member Posts: 1,166 Member
    #3
    Great News
    Rad, that's great news and a special Christmas present. Your PSA continues to drop and you can't ask for a better sign.

    K
  • RADIATION HOPEFUL
    RADIATION HOPEFUL Member Posts: 218
    #4
    Kongo said:

    Great News
    Rad, that's great news and a special Christmas present. Your PSA continues to drop and you can't ask for a better sign.

    K

    THANK YOU Kongo & VGAMA

    I can always count on both of you to send a reply--THANK YOU SO MUCH & AGAIN A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

    Rad Hopeful
  • RADIATION HOPEFUL
    RADIATION HOPEFUL Member Posts: 218
    #5
    VascodaGama said:

    Is it an earlier Christmas present?
    This is wonderful to read about your 0.47. Again another decrease and another moment to celebrate.
    Nobody can tell you that such means cure but surely it means that the treatment has nock the cancer down.
    I wouldn’t be surprised for another post of yours reporting about another decrease. Keep them coming.

    MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU too

    VG

    PSA number
    V Gama

    YOU were correct--just got my latest PSA result & it is now 0.043.
    Didn't go down much but it went down again
    THanks to you & kongo for your E-mails ---I truly appreciate them

    RAD HOPEFUL
  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,701 Member
    #6
    RADIATION HOPEFUL said:

    THANK YOU Kongo & VGAMA

    I can always count on both of you to send a reply--THANK YOU SO MUCH & AGAIN A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

    Rad Hopeful

    Please correct me
    RadHope

    Has your PSA gonne down to 0.043 from 0.47?

    Is it a type error?

    If you wanted to mean 0.43, that may be indicating that you are reaching the typical plateau in your journey. In any case, the percentage of the decrease is considerable for one month test.

    Congratulations.

    VG
  • RADIATION HOPEFUL
    RADIATION HOPEFUL Member Posts: 218
    #7
    VascodaGama said:

    Please correct me
    RadHope

    Has your PSA gonne down to 0.043 from 0.47?

    Is it a type error?

    If you wanted to mean 0.43, that may be indicating that you are reaching the typical plateau in your journey. In any case, the percentage of the decrease is considerable for one month test.

    Congratulations.

    VG

    LATEST PSA
    VGAMA

    I MUST have typed incorrectly---the latest PSA went down 4 tenths to 0.43.

    This still makes me HAPPY--it's still going down

    THANKS FOR THE REPLY & SORRY FOR THE TYPO.

    RAD HOPEFUL
  • Kongo
    Kongo Member Posts: 1,166 Member
    #8
    RADIATION HOPEFUL said:

    LATEST PSA
    VGAMA

    I MUST have typed incorrectly---the latest PSA went down 4 tenths to 0.43.

    This still makes me HAPPY--it's still going down

    THANKS FOR THE REPLY & SORRY FOR THE TYPO.

    RAD HOPEFUL

    Going down is great
    Rad Hopeful,

    I'm glad your scores continue to trend lower. As you approach nadir the rate of decline tends to slow. It's tends to follow a curve similar to what a quadratic equation would produce so the slope of the curve gets smaller and smaller as you approach the low point. All good.

    K
  • RADIATION HOPEFUL
    RADIATION HOPEFUL Member Posts: 218
    #9
    Kongo said:

    Going down is great
    Rad Hopeful,

    I'm glad your scores continue to trend lower. As you approach nadir the rate of decline tends to slow. It's tends to follow a curve similar to what a quadratic equation would produce so the slope of the curve gets smaller and smaller as you approach the low point. All good.

    K

    PSA GOING DOWN
    THANK YOU KONGO

    THANK YOU for the reply, it made me feel good knowing I may be reaching the low point. I wonder if it's possible to get to zero?

    RAD HOPEFUL
  • Kongo
    Kongo Member Posts: 1,166 Member
    #10
    RADIATION HOPEFUL said:

    PSA GOING DOWN
    THANK YOU KONGO

    THANK YOU for the reply, it made me feel good knowing I may be reaching the low point. I wonder if it's possible to get to zero?

    RAD HOPEFUL

    Rounding
    I don't think you can reach absolute zero but depending on how you prefer to round your numbers you can get pretty close.
  • RADIATION HOPEFUL
    RADIATION HOPEFUL Member Posts: 218
    #11
    Kongo said:

    Rounding
    I don't think you can reach absolute zero but depending on how you prefer to round your numbers you can get pretty close.

    PSA behaviour after radiotherapy
    KONGO

    THANK YOU FOR THE REPLY. There is a article on the internet by professor Les Bradbury stating PSA levels decline slowly after radiotherapy & can take several years to reach nadir. In fact , the longer the time to reach nadir & the lower the value , the better the chances are of remaining disease free. Some PSA bounce during this time frame should not be taken as a sign of treatment failure. Radiation works by damaging the DNA molecule in a cell. They either die at mitosis or peter out after a few generations. THE cells with fatally damaged DNA still continue to produce PSA & this only ceases when they die. As a result -PSA declines quite slowly after radiotherapy. Clearly the lower the final nadir , the better the long term prospects are of remaining disease free. If the treatment has been successful, all the cancerous tissue will have been destroyed but healthy prostrate cells are more resistant to radiation dAMAGE & some of these will remain. The prostrate gland will be reduced in volume but will still produce residual PSA. BOTTOM LINE> the lower the final PSA nadir & the longer it takes to reach this value , the better the chances are of remaining disease free.
    Thought you might be interested in this article--hope you don't mind I sent it. Actually it reflects what you stated in the reply---THANK YOU & BLESS everyone affected with this disease.

    Cordially
    RAD HOPEFUL
  • barry2468
    barry2468 Member Posts: 9
    #12
    RADIATION HOPEFUL said:

    PSA behaviour after radiotherapy
    KONGO

    THANK YOU FOR THE REPLY. There is a article on the internet by professor Les Bradbury stating PSA levels decline slowly after radiotherapy & can take several years to reach nadir. In fact , the longer the time to reach nadir & the lower the value , the better the chances are of remaining disease free. Some PSA bounce during this time frame should not be taken as a sign of treatment failure. Radiation works by damaging the DNA molecule in a cell. They either die at mitosis or peter out after a few generations. THE cells with fatally damaged DNA still continue to produce PSA & this only ceases when they die. As a result -PSA declines quite slowly after radiotherapy. Clearly the lower the final nadir , the better the long term prospects are of remaining disease free. If the treatment has been successful, all the cancerous tissue will have been destroyed but healthy prostrate cells are more resistant to radiation dAMAGE & some of these will remain. The prostrate gland will be reduced in volume but will still produce residual PSA. BOTTOM LINE> the lower the final PSA nadir & the longer it takes to reach this value , the better the chances are of remaining disease free.
    Thought you might be interested in this article--hope you don't mind I sent it. Actually it reflects what you stated in the reply---THANK YOU & BLESS everyone affected with this disease.

    Cordially
    RAD HOPEFUL

    psa levels
    Good luck to your future PSA levels. In my case I had 116 psa reading before I embarked on a treatment of Eligard (Oct 2010)after watching it for 11 years. It rose from 10 to 116 in a short 4 months. 2 months after the injection my reading dropped to 0.29 and after a further 2 months to 0.17. Good stuff. After a further 6 months it rose to 2.7 and after a further 2 months it went to 21.0. I had a further needle in Oct 2011 (a year apart) as I believe in intermittent medication as required. Today it is still 2.6. By choosing intermittent as the way to go is because I believe the less you use it the longer will it be effective. The norm is every 4 months so in the long term I am saving a hell of a lot of needles. My Urologist does not agree with me on the point but after reading up on it for the last 12 years I prefer to make my own decisions as the specialist doctors have made a hell of alot of mistakes in the past and will continue to do so. Barry

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