rising PSA after RP

Hi Ray

Sorry I didn't have the blood test just for my PSA it was for liver function etc he just hadded the psa with a list of many

MD

Martin,

There was a question about minute fluctuations in PSA readings asked at the Mill on The Soar weekend function of the Specialist guest speaker. I can not remember exactly what was said, but I think it was along the lines of such small differences are so insignificant that they are not to be worried about. Hopefully someone with a better memory will be along to confirm this?

As an example I was told that my increase of 1 in less than a month at diagnosis was nothing I should be worried about, I had been told that this indicated an aggressive cancer.

Hope this helps put your mind at ease?

dave

Absolutely Bri and other surgery guys. I couldn’t leave him with no reply - calm his nerves down

Ray

Hi all

I have had time to read all your comments and do some thinking,

1. my understanding of the acuracy of the test equipment was designed to read very low reading for post RP ?
2. They should be callibrated on a regular basis ie every month
3. If .02 and .05 are the same !! why do they use such senertive equipment?
4. If I had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer then I understand .1 is low but I have hade mine removed hence the more sensative tests !!
5. No one hase mentioned the rate at which your PSA doubles !!

I'm sorry to sound negative and that you are all trying to calm me down I do appreciate, it but. I don't need false hope

It's bad enough being told you have cancer , but playing the waiting game is even worse

Martin

Hi

I didn't say you were lieing !!

I am sorry if I have upset you ,,

Unles you have been diagnosed with cancer I don't think you can really uderstand what feeling you go through

Trying to comfort your familly ,

Oh, you didn't upset me at all - I was just saying it how it is!

Hi
Just got back form seeing my Uro , My psa has gone up again to 0.065 in 3 weeks , Has you all said nothing to worry about!
he said that I am rite to be concered but they won't do any thing uless it goes to 0.2

So thank you all for your kind words

just got to wait 3 months

MD

I’m in the same boat M.D. PSA rising although I‘m not as concerned as I should be. post op at 6w = 0.03 and post op at 12w = 0.04 doubling rate approx 4m. I also proved that my home made PSA half life calculator was more accurate than the guesses of an oncologist and prof.

I asked the following questions today and I will keep asking them to every Onco/Professional I see.

1) Can PSA be produced by the Adrenal Gland. Consultant said NO

2) What is the post op reason for a measurable PSA. Consultant said (a) Machiene error, (b) Microscopic material either cancerous or non cancerous left behind.

Follow ups;

1) PSA is expressed in the blood right. consultant said Yes.

2) How can microscopic PSA that is clinging to a preserved nerve bundle, deprived of blood supply express a measured PSA. Consultant doesn’t know.

3) How can Cancer cells that have been microscopically left behind establish themselves and secrete PSA so quickly. Consultant doesn’t know.

This is going to be a trippy ride for sure

Fresh

Edited by member 12 Sep 2018 at 19:29  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks Lyn. You are a star. The second paper seems to be the most comprehensive/and qualified. The key paragraph.

”Initially, PSA expression was reported to be exclusive to the epithelial cells of the prostate gland, but later it was found that low levels of PSA are also present in other tissues and biologic fluids. PSA immunoreactivity has been detected in the mammary glands, salivary glands, pancreas, breast milk, thyroid gland, placenta, amniotic fluid and semen, as well as in various malignant tis- sues. By RT-PCR, PSA encoding transcripts have been de tected in the endometrium, trachea, thyroid gland, salivary gland, pancreas, placenta and uterus, and low levels have also been detected in the pituitary gland, testis and peripheral leuko- cytes. Some of the cited findings are contradictory and were in most cases obtained by the use of a single method. Extrapros- tatic expression of hK2 has not been studied extensively; never- theless low levels of immunoreactivity have been found in saliva, amniotic fluid, mammary gland and breast milk, and transcripts encoding hK2 have been observed in the prostate, thyroid gland, endometrium and pituitary gland.”

Cant see the Adrenal gland mentioned anywhere and the paper looks like it is discussing where PSA is secreted (e.g. Fluids) and where it comes from. But I will be asking more questions and refer to this at my next meeting.

Fresh

Certainly, PSA is recorded in other cancers but it does also seem to be widely accepted that very low levels of PSA can be measured in healthy people. It was our urologist who mentioned the adrenal gland, when we were agonising about the rise from <0.1 to 0.1 Now, with a range of tests at 0.09 - 0.11 we are comfortable to believe that J just produces a high level of healthy PSA until it is proven otherwise.

I am sure your specialists will be thrilled the next time they see you. It is a shame isn't it that not all specialists have the same approach - John's uro and onco both seem happy to engage in discussions with me about research, emerging trends, perceptions ... I have asked him about people's situations on here sometimes (Trevor Booth and Si_ness) which he finds quite bemusing, I think.

Lyn

I totally agree that other individual circumstances will have been taken into account by my oncologist.  The point is, though, that had I been in a hospital which didn’t use the super sensitive test, I might still be classed as undetectable when cancer was very much there And could have been treated.  For what it’s worth, I did ask my oncologist for adjuvant radiotherapy but she isn’t a fan of ‘unnecessary’ treatments and wanted evidence that I needed further treatment.  She got that evidence earlier because of the sensitive test.

Ulsterman