PSA rising

[spencoid2]

I have an appointment tomorrow with Dr. Aggarwal to discuss the prospect of LU 177 so would get as much information on the following as possible before that. I have been on ADT for some time now (now orchiectomy and Aberaterone) and have been monitoring my PSA to determine if the current treatment is working or not. My PSA was 2.85 after orchiectomy which is the lowest it has been in years. However it is trending upwards and has had three consecutive increases the most recent being from 4.21 to 6.87 in slightly over two months. This is a doubling rate of approximately 1.9 months which concerns me. I think I remember that anything less than 3 months is considered to be not good. Does this series of three increases with the latest being a 1.9 month doubling suggest castrate resistance, Aberaterone failing or something else.

[Tall_Allen]

Yes, a rising PSA while on ADT and abiraterone means castration resistance. Dr Aggarwal may order a scan to be sure. That will qualify you for Aggarwal's clinical trial of Pluvicto+Keytruda when Novartis begins making Lu-177 again.

[spencoid2 in reply to Tall_Allen]

I can only find one study in Northern California and it is not recruiting yet. In addition it is at the VA hospital so will it only be open to Vets?

[Tall_Allen in reply to spencoid2]

clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show...

[Ramp7 in reply to Tall_Allen]

I was contacted by Dana Farber last week. Novartis has corrected the problem and I go for my 4th infusion next week.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Ramp7]

Good news!

[spencoid2]

thanks but i think i missed that one, it says active not recruiting. i just spoke to De Aggarwal at UCSF who is in charge or party to most of their studies. The only one he knew of was on at the VA in SF. He said he is working on getting one going. Also that he wants some scans first, CT and bone and then decide if PSMA scan is also appropriate. It just a few mets localized radiation might be more appropriate.

[barrybayarea]

I am in a similar situation, so sharing my experience if it helps. I became castration-resistant a few months back. My Oncologist Dr. Bose at UCSF, spoke to Dr. Agarwal about possibly getting me into one of the 2 studies involving LU177. I failed to get into the first one as I had 8 new spots and the study limit was 5. The 2nd trial requires me to try chemo first (just like the FDA approval). So that is what I am doing chemo - Docetaxel. My oncologist said, that after the chemo I would qualify for a lot more trials and the illusive LU-177, as and when required. The hope is that the chemo keeps things under control for at least some time The good part about trying to enter the study was that they got my PSMA scan 2 months earlier than the earliest regular appointment I could get. For me, regular scans - bones, CT ... only show only one spot on my bones while a PSMA scan showed 8.

[spencoid2 in reply to barrybayarea]

does it make sense to get on chemo (i could not take the pills?) so i would qualify for more trials? not sure what the scans will show up. i just had a chest CT for another reason and the radiologist said there were a number of lesions but less than a previous scan. thing is that i can not find a previous scan, maybe they were comparing to someone else

[barrybayarea in reply to spencoid2]

I am not sure what pills you are talking about, the chemo I am taking is infusion.

[spencoid2 in reply to barrybayarea]

that won't work for faking i thought it was pills.