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PSA what do the values mean

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User
Posted 07 Oct 2020 at 14:36

I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer back in March of this year,  started hormone treatment in April.  PSA level in March was 184 I have just received the results of lates test and it is now 1.9!  I get so confused with the PSA numbers and what they really tell us.   I would imagine that the drop is very good am I right or is this what would be expected after 2 hormone injections.  Thanks if anyone can help.

 Trevor

User
Posted 07 Oct 2020 at 15:48

Hi Trevor, sorry you find yourself here. Yes the big drop is good news, but equally it is to be expected. HT does a very good job of stopping the cancer cells doing anything troublesome. But at some point it will stop working and you will need a stronger treatment, but whilst it is working, enjoy yourself. 

Dave

User
Posted 07 Oct 2020 at 16:01

Hi Trevor,

I'm sorry about your diagnosis. Different peoples' prostate cancer produce different levels of PSA, so you can't compare your PSA with anyone else's. (About 15% of prostate cancers produce no extra PSA at all.)

What you can do, to a first approximation, is compare your own readings to each other. This means that the activity of your cancer is only 1% (1.9 / 189) of what it was, which is great news. Cancer cells, by definition, can mutate further, and may do so to form cells which produce more or less PSA, so you can't completely rely on a linear relationship between PSA and cancer cell activity.

 
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