Understanding your PSA result - PSA level

Hi Trev,

Welcome to this forum but sorry it is because of a PCa diagnosis that you join us.

To answer what appears is a contradiction on PSA numbers. There are quite a number of types of PCa some of which show a low PSA but nevertheless the cancer has advanced whereas at the other extreme some types of PCa produce moderately high PSA figures where the cancer is still contained. PSA can also be raised for other reasons, so moderately raised PSA does not necessarily mean a man even has PCa but can, often considered along with other indications lead to tests scans that show cancer.

What I suggest you do is find out through your GP or hospital consultant, if you are unaware, the other details of your diagnosis, ie, Gleason score, staging and scan information and any additional information such as percentage of cancer found in cores and how many affected. If you post this under your bio we will have a better idea of your situation.

Meanwhile, I think you would find it very useful to obtain a copy of the 'Toolkit' from the publications department of this Charity. It will help you gain a better understanding of PCa and detail the main treatments, some or all of which may be open to you.

Hi Zepfan, yes you are correct - PSA can indicate a problem but not how serious the problem is. The exception would be the very very high readings - highest PSA we have had on here was 13,000 and my husband's uro once had a patient with a PSA of 160,000 - obviously in both cases, a biopsy was unnecessary as it was clearly prostate cancer. At the other end of the spectrum, Si_ness was diagnosed with a PSA around 3 and bone mets all over his body, and my father-in-law died with a PSA of 1.2 and mets to soft organs. My husband's PSA was 3.1 and he had spread to his bladder.

We have also had members on here with PSA of 50 / 60 or more who apparently have no cancer (in some cases, just a very enlarged prostate) although I am sure their urologist keeps a close eye on them.

As stated already, what is much more important than your PSA (now that you have been diagnosed) is your staging and Gleason score. These indicate how progressed the cancer is and how distorted the actual cancer cells have become, which together indicate how aggressive / high risk your cancer is.

Hello again Trev,

I can't see that you have said that you had been offered any particular or a choice of treatment and would have thought from what you have said that by now you would have told about this. This is clearly going to be a major decision for you which can be made more difficult where a treatment choice is available to you.

Do let us know how things progress.

Thanks Lyn, I am a week late with my HT, don't I know it, the trouble is I'm having my CT scan and tattoo done on Friday, I'm worried it could be postponed because I feel my prostate had enlarged a little, I'm going for a blood test today so will pop in and ask.

Zephan, it isn't always easy for members to keep track of various threads.

It would be much easier for us if you updated your profile (the About me bit) because any member coming new to your posts just needs to look at your profile to see that you are already on HT and due to have RT.

We don't all read All threads so we might miss (as indeed I did until Lyn pointed it out) relevant information and therefore give advice

(Keeping your profile up to date also acts as your own aide de memoire and acts as a diary so you can keep dates and information straight in your own head. Well - it works for me anyway !)

Edited by member 07 Mar 2018 at 09:16  | Reason: Not specified