6 month follow up

Hi Sally,

One thing I was told during diagnosis was that you can think every pain is something to do with the disease when at that stage it almost certainly isn't.   I got a huge pain in my hip during diagnosis, which is a likely symptom, and was convinced it was related until it went about 6 months later.  With a psa of 4 it's very unlikely to be related.

I assume he's under surveillance and from what we read in the US they catch it quicker than they do in the UK and catching it quicker usually has better outcomes.  In general outcomes on early Prostate Cancer are good.   All the best Peter

He has not had a biopsy. He did have a multi parametric 3t MRI of the prostate but they did not do a biopsy because they did not see anything on the MRI. There was an indication on his MRI that he possibly had prostatitis, so they scheduled a 6 month follow up to do a PSA, Free PSA, and some other PSA genetic test. He said they would decide on a biopsy at that time. His prostate was large 59cc, so the urologist said even though the PSA was rising it was "technically" normal for the size of his prostate. They do not do TRUS biopsies at all at mayo, so his biopsy would definitely be a template biopsy.

Edited by member 08 Mar 2019 at 18:41  | Reason: Not specified

Amazon that is my fear. The doctor did say that if the PSA was rising or if the free PSA was not where he wanted it to be this time that he would do a template biopsy. DH is 56, his brother had a prostatectomy at 57. His dad had advanced cancer with bone mets at 64. Hubby is trying to be as proactive as possible given the situation and family history. 

Edited by member 08 Mar 2019 at 19:53  | Reason: Not specified

So just got results from 6 month PSA test. PSA went from 4.0 to 4.4 in 6 months, free PSA is 0.11, so not good. Follow up apt is today but it seems like template biopsy is imminent since MRI was clear 6 months ago. So many of you have been through this, are there some good questions to ask at the apt today? We are just really overwhelmed right now. So far PSA results have been

2014  3.0, Oct 2017 3.2 , Sept 2018 4.0, April 2019  4.4  (prostate volume is 59 CC’s).

So biopsy is scheduled for April 24th and it is a trans rectal biopsy. The urologist said that at the rate his PSA is increasing he is concerned but not overly concerned. Since his MRI was clear 6 months ago, if he is clear on the periphery he is most likely ok to monitor??? He said he will most likely have prostate cancer at some point and they are referring him to be tested for the BRCA 2 gene. Also, since his prostate is large his PSA is still in the normal range. So hard to know what the right decisions are.

That is what we were initially told. I think bacause his MRI was clear a few months ago his individual urologist decided to do the other since it was in office and required no sedation (I guess the individual doctor can decide). He said with the size of his prostate it is a needle in a haystack. If nothing shows up and his PSA continues to rise they will do another MRI and go from there. He said the MRI is 89% accurate for the detection of significant cancer and he will do 12 cores. 

Crestor is a statin. Statins are known to reduce PSA but only by a few per cent so unlikely to be the only reason for the drop you have seen. If you have also reduced his cholesterol, that could account for a drop of as much as 10% 

Edited by member 26 Nov 2019 at 21:18  | Reason: Not specified