Can epididymitis cause a tiny PSA rise?

There is research to show that PSA is present in heathy breast tissue, breast milk, the adrenal gland and the epididymis among others but in very tiny amounts. Breast cancer, adrenal gland tumours, etc can produce slightly higher anounts but not as much as a healthy prostate. So presumably infection could also cause a small increase?

I did suggest to ChrisJ that he get his adrenal gland checked but in his case it seemed not to be an explanation for the big rises he was seeing. Whether inflammation of the epididymis could generate the small amount you have can only be determined by discussing with the onco.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.20605/pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiT5KSc2fXYAhUpDMAKHcvgBucQFjAFegQICxAB&usg=AOvVaw2aea2qgnahqVZ0QrbXB2T5

Edited by member 26 Jan 2018 at 13:26  | Reason: Not specified

The better way of looking at it is this - St James and some other centres of excellence have been running a trial whereby all men are offered adjuvant RT if they opt for surgery, on the basis that recurrence is then much, much less likely. So don’t see it as unnecessary treatment ... see it as putting your seatbelt on.

Edited by member 26 Jan 2018 at 21:09  | Reason: Not specified

I know everyone is different but my husband's stats are nearly the same as yours. i.e 3+4, T2c and PSA 9.2 . He only had his post op results last Saturday and we have been cautiously celebrating as he had clear margins,seminal vesicles etc.and no detectable PSA.

The reason for our optimism was when we put his post op figures into the Memorial Sloane Kettering nomogram it says he only has a 3% risk of recurrence at 2 years and 8% at 5years so your risk would be somewhere in between.

So what I'm thinking is ..if your margins etc were also clear you would need to be very unlucky for a recurrence so maybe you are onto something when you think that you may

not be experiencing a recurrence but your infection perhaps causing the raised PSA.

Another thought of mine after reading Dr Patrick Walsh's book is that if you had clear margins, no extracapsular spread, no lymph node involvement and clear seminal vesicles is how could there be any cancer in the prostate bed which I assume is where they will be irradiatng.

You will of course need to be guided by your oncologist but it certainly wouldn't do any harm to raise it with him/her even at this stage.

Best Wishes

Ann

There are theories that US outcomes are better than in the UK because:

- American men are more likely to seek medical advice when they are ill or have symptoms (of any illness not just prostate related)

- many have their 'physician' who may have been the same one for years and often has cared for the whole family so history is not lost

- majority have private health insurance which requires regular health checks

- all of these factors mean that men are diagnosed earlier than British men

- suggestion that once diagnosed, over treatment is much more of an issue in the U.S. than in the UK

Even in the UK, outcomes are variable. Leeds men do worse statistically than in some other regions so the urology/oncology peeps have downgraded their outcomes on their version of the MSK nomogram. This could be explained by:

- Leeds is a centre of excellence so patients needing radical treatment will be referred from other trusts such as Harrogate, York, and the wider West Yorkshire region

- Leeds / West Yorks has a higher than average proportion of black men

- it also has high deprivation factors - men living in poverty or with poor educational outcomes are less likely to seek medical advice than professional people

- another example - outcomes are worse than average in the North East ... lots of working class blokey type blokes who might be more inhibited about 'private parts' and embarrassing bodily functions

- men living in some areas are statistically more likely to have heart disease, to be obese, to have grown up with poor diet, etc and are known to be at higher risk of all sorts of health problems so prostate cancer is just another example

- all combined, men referred to Leeds trust are more likely to have been diagnosed late, to be upgraded, and/or to have recurrence.

However, these are all generalisations or indicative factors and it doesn't mean that treatment in Leeds is worse or that a specific patient would have done better if they moved to another area. I guess you could find out fairly easily what the general health stats are for your own area (for example, is it one of the priority areas for obesity, diabetes, heart disease?)

Well, that's what I have gleaned from Mr P and Mr B over the years, anyway :-/

Edited by member 27 Jan 2018 at 12:40  | Reason: Not specified