My dad's ALP went down to 81 last month after 6 cycles of chemo. He then moved on to Lupron + Casodex.
After 1 month, its now risen from 81 to 121. He also has little pain on and off in his back and thighs from 4 days. He has stopped taking his painkiller since a month and doesn't need them yet.
His PSA level is 0.024 now (lowest so far). His blood levels like Haemoglobin have improved.
Our MO doesnt want to consider the ALP levels now, he wants to monitor PSA and Blood Levels only and any significant change in these numbers he will then shift to a more serious treatment.
Should we be concerned about the increase in ALP levels? Its been a month post chemo, could it be bone healing?
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Cheerr
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My husband no longer expresses PSA. It was his complaints of pain + ALP rise that prompted the MO to do scans, which showed new tumor activity on his bones. Best of luck to your father.
Most likely ,his ALP is due to high bone turnover which is part of bone healing. PSA reflects quantity of live prostate cancer cells. And his PSA is only 0.024 which is very very low indicating that most cancer cells have died and can not produce PSA anymore.
His intial PSA was 149 which means his cancer cells were producing a lot of PSA and therefore he does not come under the heading of low PSA aggressive variant.
Your MO is right to ignore ALP at this time. I will check ALP every 4 weeks to see it will start falling again..very likely scenario.
The state of live cancer cells can best be assessed by checking PSA, ALP. Hemoglobin, Albumin and ALP. If most of these biomarkers are going in right direction except ALP then,
we are totally fine and just need to wait for falling ALP. Its called ALP flare phenomenon...rise of ALP sharply followed by spectacular fall.
Glad to know that two most important biomarkers are going in right direction....of course ...you can relax now.
We want to see ALP below 80 to declare victory. Also, keep an eye on HB%, Calcium level, Albumin. High protein diet along with plenty of vegetables and fruits can get the nutritional parameters in good range and boost immunity .
Best veggies include cruciferous veggies, tomatoes, Guava, sweet potato, Soursop,
and above all ..Ginger, Turmeric ,scallops and Garlic...all anti inflammatory and Anti Cancer. Good luck to your Dad.
chronic inflammation initiates and promotes prostate cancer. Therefore, plant based diets ,herbs and roots are beneficial because they reduce inflammation. Also, have anti oxidant,immune boosting and anti cancer effect.
Black Pepper incrases bioavailabilty of turmeric (curcumin) multifold.
ALP may just showing some mild liver toxicity from the chemo (ALP comes from the liver and bone primarily). You might want to ask for bone-specific ALP.
My ALP went from 782 to 109. Then it started to rise to 169. Got me concerned but MO wasn't excited about it while PSA still dropped. Happy to say it now came back down to 128. It was said to me it can fluctuate with rate of bone healing
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