PSA test range

In my view, everywhere which deals with prostatectomy patients should be measuring down to 0.03 at least, and 0.01 would be nice.

Anywhere which only has a resolution of 0.1 can't meet the requirement to identify 3 consecutive rises between 0.1 and 0.2, and also you ideally want to be no more than 0.03 after a prostatectomy. Some hospitals now are initiating salvage treatment on consecutive rises below 0.1, which are obviously not detectable if 0.1 is the lowest measured.

My treatment hospital only measured down to 0.1, so my consultant preferred me to get tested at my local hospital which went down to 0.01 at the time, but now only goes down to 0.03. In a review of my treatment hospital which was going on while I was being treated, they were told 0.1 wasn't good enough, and they now have to send PSA tests off to another hospital lab which can measure lower.

A minimum of 0.1 is generally fine for patients who still have a prostate (but not salvage radiotherapy patients who don't).

I think most NHS hospitals go below 0.1, but there are certainly some which don't.

The charity testing done by Graham Fulford (and all the charities which use him such as support groups, Lions, etc) test down to 0.01, so that might be another way to get a more sensitive test, but please pay the full cost (around £29) and don't let these organisations subsidise you, as the funds they raise to subsidise this testing are for testing men who haven't been tested or diagnosed with prostate cancer, in the hope of licking up more cancers early, which is not relevant to you.

You should get tests done by the same labs each time. Using different labs for comparative values particularly at low levels will give misleading results.

Hi, my health authority also only measures to one decimal place which did worry me at first as I couldn't track any gradual rise after a prostatectomy. I looked for a private test locally but they all only gave results to one decimal place as well and it was suggested that they use the same labs as the hospital. My health authority won't take any further action ie PSMA PET scan etc until its reached 0.2 at a minimum anyway.  I'm meeting the consultant again next week so will ask the question again about more detailed testing.

We had a discussion about this a couple of months ago at our support group when one of the nurses was present. The hospital measures down to 0.001 etc. There is another local hospital which only gives results as <0.1. There are a number of guys understandably who fret if their PSA goes from <0.001 to say 0.002 or 0.003. As the nurse said that is minuscule and can be due to natural fluctuations. The other hospital by reporting at <0.1 avoids that anxiety. But does it then come as a surprise if all of a sudden it pops above 0.1 as there is no way of measuring increases? The conclusion was there’s no right or wrong way as everyone reacts differently. My view is I prefer the more accurate readings as it may show a trend but don’t hung up about it. In my case so far so good as other than a small variation  my psa has stayed <0.001.