PSA increase: I’ve been on Zytiga and... - Advanced Prostate...

Advanced Prostate Cancer

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PSA increase

JDKotter profile image
9 Replies

I’ve been on Zytiga and Lupron 6 months after my prostate surgery which was Feb 2019. I had 6.5 weeks of radiation in June of 2019

My PSA has been undetectable until today. It’s been 0.01 and now it’s .07.

What does this mean?

Thank you for your input.

Gleason 9 5/4

Seminole vessels margins 3 lymph nodes involved.

Initial PSA 64

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JDKotter
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9 Replies

I would say it means something, but nothing significant.

My doctor said he has patients that have been on Zytiga for years with PSAs that are higher,

It might stay around that or go slightly higher for a while. .01 to .07 is a small change, could just be noise. It would have to keep going up to a significant number, usually above 2 before you would normally consider doing anything.

You could discuss switching the steroid to Dexamethasone with your doctor. Many people get more time out of Zytiga that way.

If it does continue to go up, you would have imaging done before changing treatments. You wouldn't change treatments based on PSA alone.

JDKotter profile image
JDKotter in reply to

Gregg57, Sorry false alarm! I usually don’t hear back from my Oncologist until the next day and I was really worried. But my new oncologist just got back to me and said that my PSA is still undetectable. The <0.07 vs <0.01 designation only reflects the different lower limits of detection for the different assays. In this case it was tested at a different facility. Thank you for the advice as well!

in reply to JDKotter

For metastatic PCa patients a PSA of 1.07 would be read like this:

1= the Prostate Specific Antigen

.07 = the Prostate Specific Anxiety

Do yourself a favor, ignore the tenths and hundredths. They just get us upset and those readings are not going to inform our treatment decisions.

JDKotter profile image
JDKotter in reply to

Funny! Thanks

JDKotter profile image
JDKotter

Sorry false alarm! I usually don’t hear back from my Oncologist until the next day and I was really worried. But my new oncologist just got back to me and said that my PSA is still undetectable. The <0.07 vs <0.01 designation only reflects the different lower limits of detection for the different assays. In this case it was tested at a different facility. Sorry to bother Nalakrats. You are a roll model on how to take care of yourself!

JDKotter profile image
JDKotter

Thanks Nalakrats

Gearhead profile image
Gearhead

The laboratory at the oncology part of my health-care provider (which is affiliated with a well-recognized university) doesn't report PSA less than 0.1 ng/ml. My last three tests have been reported as <0.1 ng/ml. I'm starting to realize that maybe this relieves me of a lot of anxiety.

Magnus1964 profile image
Magnus1964

These are somewhat small numbers. They could be caused by inflammation. Worse case if it is a recurrence you may have to switch ADT medication.

j-o-h-n profile image
j-o-h-n

JDK = Just Don't Kare..... sometimes a period/decimal on paper is really fly shit......

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 12/28/2019 12:40 PM EST

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