PSA of 10

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User

Posted 08 Dec 2020 at 16:50

I see people on the forum concerned that their PSA has risen from "undetectable" to maybe 1 - my partner's has never been lower than 5, despite the hormone treatment (Zoladex and enzalutamide), and has risen to 8 and then 10 over the past couple of months. Does this imply that the cancer is still growing?

He had a spinal compression a couple of months ago - treated with surgery, and then a week of radiotherapy to mop up any remaining cancer cells in the area - and now has very limited use of his legs. We're hoping it will improve with physio, but we have yet to have an actual physio session since he was discharged from the local community hospital 3 weeks ago - they had a couple of covid cases, and were discharging anyone who was negative for it.

User

Posted 08 Dec 2020 at 18:16

Generally speaking, the people who have a big panic about PSA of tiny numbers are those who had their prostate removed and should therefore have a PSA of less than 0.2

For a man who still has a prostate and advanced PCa there is no 'lower threshold' that is good or bad ... it varies from man to man. So the fact that it has never gone below 5 isn't significant. The fact that it is rising is a concern but that is presumably why he is on enzalutimide? The doctors already know that the cancer is active by the fact that he has had a spinal cord compression. Also worth noting that the palliative RT a couple of weeks could have caused the PSA to rise a little.

Edited by member 08 Dec 2020 at 18:19 | Reason: Not specified

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 08 Dec 2020 at 19:32

Yes, I wondered about the spinal cord compression - that the cancer in his spine must have changed in some way. I knew it was a bad diagnosis, with a PSA of 800+ and already spread to the bones, so I guess the outlook isn't good.

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