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PSA Test Post Prostatectomy

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User
Posted 10 Mar 2023 at 11:04

When you have a PSA test (with a prostate!) they advise you not to ejaculate or do rigorous exercise as it can raise the reading. Is this still the case after radical prostatectomy? Sorry if this is a silly question but I am not sure of the science behind what can raise the reading. Many thanks

User
Posted 10 Mar 2023 at 13:27
Research shows that ejaculation, anal sex and heavy exercise can temporarily raise PSA but only by a very small amount (possibly up to 10%) and for a very limited time (heavy weights etc about 3 hours and ejaculation / anal sex for up to 24 hours). Cycling is slightly different in that there is no suggestion that going out on a bike ride causes a rise but professional cyclists tend to have a higher 'normal' PSA level than other men.

Once you have had your prostate removed, there is no science to prove that these things can cause a rise (and with no prostate, you don't ejaculate anyway) but generally speaking, men being closely monitored post-op are sensible to try to keep the same behaviours / habits for subsequent tests.

I know a lot of men do avoid sex / cycling prior to the PSA test but it isn't necessary. My husband tends to cycle or go to the gym every day so, to ensure consistency of PSA tests he just behaves normally .... what he does ensure is that he has the test at more or less the same time of day each time and he does not use levitra or his injections the night before a test.

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

User
Posted 10 Mar 2023 at 15:18

D&C, I have had some small but erratic variations to my PSA results. Even though I don't have a prostate I avoid sexual activity etc. I and one of Lyn's men have had our blood samples taken at the same time put in two separate viles and both tested , mine in the same lab, the difference was 0.01. So machine tolerance etc can account for small variations. 

 

I now have mine done at the same time of day at the same regional health centre, usually around half an hour before the samples are transferred to the lab. I did wonder if the samples taken at the hospital and tested within an hour would give a different result to tests I had done early in the morning at my regional health centre and then transferred to the lab by van 5 hours later.

 

In conversations with many medics I don't think any of us had had a definitive answer to variations, and I don't suppose small variations are as significant to our medics as the overall long term pattern. My oncologist said it is the patients blood sample that is unreliable not the testing equipment. I wonder if the half life of PSA is the same in all men.

Thanks Chris 

 

 

 

 

User
Posted 10 Mar 2023 at 16:05
"My oncologist said it is the patients blood sample that is unreliable not the testing equipment."

That was exactly what our urologist said!

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

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User
Posted 10 Mar 2023 at 13:27
Research shows that ejaculation, anal sex and heavy exercise can temporarily raise PSA but only by a very small amount (possibly up to 10%) and for a very limited time (heavy weights etc about 3 hours and ejaculation / anal sex for up to 24 hours). Cycling is slightly different in that there is no suggestion that going out on a bike ride causes a rise but professional cyclists tend to have a higher 'normal' PSA level than other men.

Once you have had your prostate removed, there is no science to prove that these things can cause a rise (and with no prostate, you don't ejaculate anyway) but generally speaking, men being closely monitored post-op are sensible to try to keep the same behaviours / habits for subsequent tests.

I know a lot of men do avoid sex / cycling prior to the PSA test but it isn't necessary. My husband tends to cycle or go to the gym every day so, to ensure consistency of PSA tests he just behaves normally .... what he does ensure is that he has the test at more or less the same time of day each time and he does not use levitra or his injections the night before a test.

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

User
Posted 10 Mar 2023 at 15:18

D&C, I have had some small but erratic variations to my PSA results. Even though I don't have a prostate I avoid sexual activity etc. I and one of Lyn's men have had our blood samples taken at the same time put in two separate viles and both tested , mine in the same lab, the difference was 0.01. So machine tolerance etc can account for small variations. 

 

I now have mine done at the same time of day at the same regional health centre, usually around half an hour before the samples are transferred to the lab. I did wonder if the samples taken at the hospital and tested within an hour would give a different result to tests I had done early in the morning at my regional health centre and then transferred to the lab by van 5 hours later.

 

In conversations with many medics I don't think any of us had had a definitive answer to variations, and I don't suppose small variations are as significant to our medics as the overall long term pattern. My oncologist said it is the patients blood sample that is unreliable not the testing equipment. I wonder if the half life of PSA is the same in all men.

Thanks Chris 

 

 

 

 

User
Posted 10 Mar 2023 at 16:05
"My oncologist said it is the patients blood sample that is unreliable not the testing equipment."

That was exactly what our urologist said!

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

User
Posted 11 Mar 2023 at 09:29
Many thanks. This is all very appreciated.
 
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