Dad - with very high PSA - Start here! - Prostate Cancer UK Online Community

User

Posted 31 Mar 2023 at 14:05

Good afternoon,

My dad and I have just come back from urology - he is 76. During some blood tests at A&E it showed that his liver bloods were high, they have been checked 3 times now. His doctor saw him and did his PSA - which we have found out today is 46.

I had already been worrying that if he had PC that it had spread due to his liver tests being abnormal. But now I realise that PSA score is insane!! Has anyone else had such a high score?

He has a biopsy booked for 11th April and CT and bone scans scheduled too.

All I am seeing is others saying their score is 9ish and that is high, so a score of 46 seems to be very very very high.

Please can some one help me.

Louise

User

Posted 31 Mar 2023 at 15:05

A PSA of 43 is certainly higher than it should be, but it's honestly not very high. If your Dad had advanced cancer (incurable cancer that had spread outside the prostate) a PSA score in the hundreds or thousands would be typical. The highest PSA score I can recall being reported here was 13,000. There are many conditions that can result in an elevated PSA.

Don't make any assumptions or assume the worst - just wait for the diagnostic procedures to be completed. Your Dad very likely does have prostate cancer simply because the vast majority of men his age do; it's just a part of the aging process for a man. That does not mean that it requires treatment or, if it does, that he can't be treated with curative intent. Most men die with prostate cancer, not from it. I know that waiting for results is difficult, but that's honestly all you can do.

All the best,

Chris

User

Posted 31 Mar 2023 at 16:04

I’m 76 now, when diagnosed in December 2012 my PSA was 408.

It can be a worrying time but as Chris says wait fir the diagnosis

There are many treatments available for Prostate Cancer now and a lot of help and support available here from not only the contributors and specialist nurses but the number of publications online at this website.

Best wishes,

Arthur

User

Posted 31 Mar 2023 at 17:52

Thank you for the replies that does make me feel a lot better, I felt like I hadn't seen other high results so this is reassuring.

User

Posted 31 Mar 2023 at 20:36

We have had men on here with PSA of 70 or 80 who went on to be given the all clear - no cancer, just a very large prostate. We have had men with a PSA of 3 who turned out to have mets all over their body and, as Chris says, the highest number we have ever seen on this forum was 13,000. About 70% of men in their 70s have prostate cancer - hopefully, your dad is having a multi-parametric MRI (mpMRI) before the biopsy, that is best practice.

Why was your dad in A&E?

My dad had liver blood tests coming in at more than 3000 (normal range for ALT is under 55) and the doctors told us to prepare for bad news - prostate mets in the liver and only a short time to live. As it turned out, there were no mets - he had some undiagnosed and unspecified infection and it sorted itself out. This was February 2020 and we now suspect that he just had Covid.

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

User

Posted 01 Apr 2023 at 13:31

He was in A&E due to vertigo which was really severe - couldn't walk, being sick, severe dizziness.

I am not sure what his liver blood test reading are.

I think it seems that it isn't an absolute done deal - thank you to you all for replying.

User

Posted 01 Apr 2023 at 18:40

COVID can push up PSA significantly. Some other infections can too. Infections can also interfere with balance, and interfering with balance can make you sick (effectively, travel sick).

I'm surprised they haven't waited 6 weeks for infection to clear and retested PSA, before going for a biopsy, unless there's some other evidence they're going on - presumably they've done a prostate MRI?

User

Posted 01 Apr 2023 at 18:54

His vertigo is positional vertigo from a head injury in 2019. It is progressively getting worse - he is due to see the neurologist soon - brain scan was clear.

He has no infection present - not that has been found. Never had COVID.

We will see what the biopsy says.

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Dad - with very high PSA

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