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Diagnosis without biopsy or scan

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User
Posted 17 Jan 2020 at 14:22

My partner was diagnosed in December - I saw the consultant had written T4 on his notes - could he tell that much from just a PSA (over 800) and DRE/physical examination? The GP had done a DRE only a couple of weeks before and found nothing suspicious. He's since had a bone scan, which we don't have the results of yet, and is due to have a biopsy.

User
Posted 17 Jan 2020 at 23:29

With a PSA of 800, the cancer will not just be inside the prostate. Sometimes when a man has a PSA this high, they decide not to do the biopsy, particularly if the bone scan comes back with visible mets (spread).


The hormone treatment that he has started will starve the cancer and help to control it.

Edited by member 17 Jan 2020 at 23:34  | Reason: Not specified

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
User
Posted 18 Jan 2020 at 11:41
Not always, Heenan. We have had a number of members who were diagnosed with advanced PCa but never knew their Gleason because they had no biopsy, or didn’t know whether it was definitely adeno.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
User
Posted 18 Jan 2020 at 11:50

I had wondered if it was the very high PSA that indicated spread outside the prostate. He's getting a lot of hip pain....tho he's had sciatica for years.....of course my fear is that it's spread to the bones. He had no urinary symptoms at all, alarm bells only rang when he lost weight and the GP starting looking into it. He's stopped the hormone tablets temporarily while the GP asks the consultant for advice - he felt so ill yesterday they wouldn't do the biopsy - the tableys make him nauseous, yesterday he was vomiting as well and the GP wanted to check if it was a side-effect.

User
Posted 18 Jan 2020 at 12:23
Yes. When PSA levels are in the high hundreds or thousands it’s a definite marker that the cancer has metastasised. I’m afraid that spread to the bones is highly likely with PSA that high, but the bone scan will of course show whether or not that’s the case.

Best wishes,

Chris
 
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