Psa and Prostate cancer

[Finasp]

Does Psa go down if you have Pca and not on any treatment. Psa was 6.49 in October 2017 and January 2018 is on 5.31. Is Psa supposed to rise or it can fluctuate if one has Pca.

[ctarleton]

Has prostate cancer been confirmed by biopsy results and pathology reports? Are you on or still deciding about any prostate cancer treatments?

If NO, you may have a variable PSA perhaps associated with other things, such as healing prostatitis, or sexual activity / bicycle riding / or other activities before a PSA that can cause one to test higher. More tests may reveal a trend, or any test/lab errors.

If YES, what was your confirming PSA and Gleason Score, and how often are you being PSA tested now? And where are you in terms of making an initial treatment decision? If it turns out you are on a treatment, it could be working. If not, it could again be a test/lab error or personal variable before a test.

Above all, ask these same types of questions of your doctor who ordered these PSA tests.

Charles

[Finasp in reply to ctarleton]

Thank you Charles.Yes Pca was confirmed after biopsy.Psa then was 6.49. Still deciding on treatment options and was seeking a second opinion when second urologist did Psa and the figure went down to 5.31 in January 2018

[ctarleton in reply to Finasp]

PSA tests have been known to differ between labs, too. Once things settle down, it's usually best to get all recurring tests done from the same lab, for consistency.

[Finasp in reply to ctarleton]

In this case it's the same lab.Maybe other factors contribute as well.My assumption was that Psa should rather go up if Pca is confirmed and no treatment taken hence am a bit curious.

[pjoshea13]

We are 30 years into the PSA era & it annoys me that we still rely on PSA without also using other markers that have more specificity for cancer. With an intact prostate, some PSA will come from the cancer, & the rest from non-cancerous cells. If there is BPH, the latter contribution can be high.

Basically, you do not know how much PSA your cancer is making, but that portion is unlikely to spontaneously decline.

If you have BPH, the PSA can go up & down for various reasons. Reduce inflammation & you might see a significant drop. & the reverse is true.

With a graph of enough PSA values you should be able to spot an upward trend due to the cancer, as well as fluctuations in BPH noise (which will not trend upward.)

An inflammatory environment can accelerate PCa progression, IMO. I have a series of old posts on the subject of inflammation markers. It's useful to know your CRP & albumin. CRP should be close to zero. Albumin should be >=4.5 & definitely not <4.0. Common polyphenols can be used to improve your numbers, & this might slow PCa growth.

-Patrick

[Finasp in reply to pjoshea13]

Thank you Patrick.

[wifeofvet]

our oncologist told my husband that it can vary 10-15% even reading the same blood draw, not just two different ones.

[Finasp in reply to wifeofvet]

Thank you very much. Maybe that is why.

[mikehike in reply to wifeofvet]

Interesting! I knew it could vary between labs significantly, good to know!

[JLS1]

Some PC's don't make much PSA at all. Therefore the PSA numbers aren't always a reliable indicator of PC progression.

My husband's PSA was at 5.8 when he was diagnosed a year ago with extensive bone mets. After the 1st line of standard treatment, with Casodex, Lupron and Docetaxel chemo, it went down to 0.09 last Aug. In Nov it went up to 0.10, and then 2 months later (a month ago) when we learned his cancer was CRPC and progressing aggressively, his PSA was at 3.52.

[Finasp in reply to JLS1]

Thank you.

[Hidden]

My PSA was a scant 2.7 when I was diagnosed. The DRE turned up the abnormality and the biopsy showed Gleason 8 in several of the cores. This PSA reading was a tad below the previous year's reading. Don't take a non-rising PSA as cause for complacency. Start treatment right away. I got a six month eligard (ADT) shot followed by surgery.

[Finasp]

Thank you.

[mikehike]

Sure psa can go down. I think that's a great sign! It may mean that its not getting more aggressive. PSA in general isn't a great indicator. But if it was say shooting up instead then that would probably be bad.

Just curious did you change your diet or supplements? Or are you getting more exercise? More sun (vitamin D)? Less stress? Less dairy, meats, or saturated fats? Taken any drugs for cholesterol? Other Vitamins? Lots of factors can effect tumor growth.

My PSA went the other direction, from 6 to 14 in 6 months so looking into ways of getting it down. But it had gone down in the past too.