Rising psa with chemo

[joann48]

Psa rising from 59 to 65after Ist dose of docataxel. Does that mean chemo won’t work

[Hidden]

One small PSA increase is not enough information to determine if chemotherapy is working or not. I would keep checking it with each cycle and he should talk to his doctor about whether he is progressing. You also need to look at how the patient feels, if there are new symptoms such as pain and also imaging to really determine whether there is progression.

[Hidden]

Another indicator to look at is Alkaline Phosphatase, a liver enzyme that is an indicator of bone turnover for those who have bone metastases.

[joann48 in reply to Hidden]

His alp is 125 which has remained the same for the last month I really thought the psa would come down not go up. It was 42 in November.

[Hidden in reply to joann48]

That's not too far out of normal range and it sounds like it's stable so I would just stay on the course and keep watching everything. With chemo, you're getting blood tests every 3 weeks so the doctor is staying on top of your blood numbers. You may have to wait for a couple more cycles to tell if it's working.

In the meantime, just try to take one day at a time. It's hard, I know from my own experience. We are all in the same boat.

[MelaniePaul]

That is a very good and difficult question to answer. Some people would say that it can happen that PSA rises during Chemotherapy because of the PSA from the killed cancer cells that is still in your blood stream. I have never really known what to think of that and, if I were in your situation, I think I would get another CT and bone scan done and compare them with the previous scans to be sure whether Chemotherapy is working or whether you should be changed to a different Chemotherapy agent.

Please keep us posted.

Mel.