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PSA suddenly gone sky high

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User
Posted 15 Jul 2023 at 14:42

I've been on hormone therapy (Prostap) for five years now, and my PSA that started at 62 was controlled well by a combo of that and 37x RT.  It has generally been bumbling along at 2 or less for a long time.  I was given 6x docetaxel chemo cycles from July to October last year.  Scans up to now have shown nothing.

Following chemo my PSA started to rise: in December it was 0.6, at the beginning of March it was 4.4, by mid-April it was 8.7.  Yesterday, three months later, it was NINETY-EIGHT point TWO!!!!  

Apparently I have acquired a couple of enlarged lymph nodes, the first I've heard of anything unusual being identified out of all the scans I've had.

Anyway, they're starting me on enzalutamide on Monday, with monthly bloods.  And I'll be on weekly bisphosphonates to strengthen my bones as I'll have been on HT for so long.  And I'm still going to have 12-weekly Prostap jabs.

User
Posted 15 Jul 2023 at 18:31

Stew The Blog,

So sorry to hear of the sudden and dramatic rise in your P.S.A.  It seems astonishing that the scans showed nothing until now.  Hope the new treatment regime goes well.

Keep us posted.

Best wishes,

JedSee.

User
Posted 16 Jul 2023 at 20:47

Sorry to read this Stew. Hope the Enzalutamide does a good job.

Ido4

User
Posted 16 Jul 2023 at 22:50

Stew, I went on a PCa vaccine trial and had lots of CT with contrast scans but they found nothing, After the trial I had a PSMA scan at 1.4 and they found a tumor in a lymph node, which was treated with five sessions of SABR treatment. Following a further recurrence earlier this year,I swapped from the NHS to my private health insurance. 

The consultant said the NHS in my area would  treat 5 hotspots at a push but preferred to limit it to 3. In the private sector he could treat five hotspots or even 7. The other issue is the position of the tumor, if too close to other organs they may not treat them. They had to call in the physicist to alter the program for my treatment, and it is not cheap.

Hope you get a resolution.

Thanks Chris 

 

Edited by member 16 Jul 2023 at 22:51  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 17 Jul 2023 at 19:23

Andy,

I had 2 each of Bone Scans and CT scans about two months apart.

I can't have any more RT as I've had my allotted 37 shots.  For what it's worth less than a year after I had the RT to the prostate I developed a tumour in my anus and had to have APR to remove it.  

Just hoping that the enzalutamide does the business.  Picked the prescription up from the hospital pharmacy today, so here we go.

User
Posted 19 Jul 2023 at 14:42

Hello Stew, it would depend if the recurrence is in the original treatment field - sometimes it isn't, and it can still be treated. Obviously, it does need to have shown up on a scan though, so they know where to treat. Hence why I asked about a PET scan.

Sorry bout the anal cancer - I read it on your blog at the time.

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User
Posted 15 Jul 2023 at 18:31

Stew The Blog,

So sorry to hear of the sudden and dramatic rise in your P.S.A.  It seems astonishing that the scans showed nothing until now.  Hope the new treatment regime goes well.

Keep us posted.

Best wishes,

JedSee.

User
Posted 15 Jul 2023 at 22:51

Stew, sorry to hear this.

I would also ask if you can have those lymph nodes zapped with SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy). I'm not sure what treatment path you were on, and it might not be appropriate in some cases.

What scan did they use to find them? You could ask for a PET scan if it wasn't that, but there's quite a wait in many areas, and they probably didn't want to wait before doing something. Also, a PET scan might find more hot spots, in which case they wouldn't do radiotherapy on any of them.

User
Posted 16 Jul 2023 at 20:47

Sorry to read this Stew. Hope the Enzalutamide does a good job.

Ido4

User
Posted 16 Jul 2023 at 22:50

Stew, I went on a PCa vaccine trial and had lots of CT with contrast scans but they found nothing, After the trial I had a PSMA scan at 1.4 and they found a tumor in a lymph node, which was treated with five sessions of SABR treatment. Following a further recurrence earlier this year,I swapped from the NHS to my private health insurance. 

The consultant said the NHS in my area would  treat 5 hotspots at a push but preferred to limit it to 3. In the private sector he could treat five hotspots or even 7. The other issue is the position of the tumor, if too close to other organs they may not treat them. They had to call in the physicist to alter the program for my treatment, and it is not cheap.

Hope you get a resolution.

Thanks Chris 

 

Edited by member 16 Jul 2023 at 22:51  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 17 Jul 2023 at 19:23

Andy,

I had 2 each of Bone Scans and CT scans about two months apart.

I can't have any more RT as I've had my allotted 37 shots.  For what it's worth less than a year after I had the RT to the prostate I developed a tumour in my anus and had to have APR to remove it.  

Just hoping that the enzalutamide does the business.  Picked the prescription up from the hospital pharmacy today, so here we go.

User
Posted 19 Jul 2023 at 14:42

Hello Stew, it would depend if the recurrence is in the original treatment field - sometimes it isn't, and it can still be treated. Obviously, it does need to have shown up on a scan though, so they know where to treat. Hence why I asked about a PET scan.

Sorry bout the anal cancer - I read it on your blog at the time.

 
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