Psa concern

[Dan-A]

Hello everyone. I’m new here. It’s been 12 months since my RP Surgury. I have tested at < .04 for every test. My last one came back as .04 No more <. Needless to say my anxiety shot straight up . After my urologist visit he had zero concern and said we’re going to every 6 month psa check from the every 3 months. I still can’t help to feel very anxious about this. I know it’s such a minimal change , but any change is scary. Any advice here would be much appreciated. My psa was 5.2 prior. Gleason score was 3+4 I did have seminal vessel invasion. Dechifer test put me at low intermediate range ( .51).

[Tall_Allen]

Your urologist is wise. Stick with what you know. I know your mind is racing in circles with all kinds of imaginary possibilities. Your mind is not your friend right now. I practice mindfulness everyday to keep my mind in the present moment.

[Dan-A in reply to Tall_Allen]

Your so right about the mind. It’s hard to shutdown. I’m not getting the next psa test until September. So I’m trying to enjoy the next several months and not dwell on it. Doing pretty good. But I have moments. Thank you for reply. Hope your doing well yourself.

[Magnus1964]

that's a great PSA. You're doing good, relax.

[j-o-h-n]

Greetings Dan-A

Would you please be kind enough to tell us your bio. Age? Location? When Treatment(s)? Treatment center(s)? Scores Psa/Gleason? Medications? Doctor's name(s)?

ALL INFO IS VOLUNTARY, but it helps us help you and helps us too. When you respond, you might want to copy and paste it in your home page for your use and for other members’ reference.

Note: Answers are for your benefit, not mine.

THANK YOU AND KEEP POSTING!!!

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Wednesday 06/22/2022 7:31 PM DST

[Tony666]

There is a strange divide between doctors who monitor with a high sensitive psa test (in your case <0.04) after surgery and those who monitor against a less sensitive bar (in my case <0.1). Is it better to know a level below 0.1 even though it will cause anxiety and it doesn’t trigger a course change? In my case I am still <0.1 but so are you in fact. Usually more information is best. But in this case I am not so sure. I really don’t have the answer.

[Don_1213 in reply to Tony666]

Thank you.. I absolutely agree. If the changes won't affect the course of treatment, why even look at them?

[Justfor_]

I was at 0.04 one year after RP as well.

I take monthly PSA tests for I want to be informed.

PSA time sequence

[Dan-A in reply to Justfor_]

Hello just for. Can I ask what your Gleason scores were ? Did you have a dechiper test done on the prostate after surgury? I was all 3+4 pre and post surgury. But your chart kinda raised my anxiety.

[Justfor_ in reply to Dan-A]

4+4=8 pre surgery, 4+5=9 post surgery pathology. Unilateral SVI -> pT3b, like you. No Decipher test available in Europe. Hate to raise your anxiety more, but according to my surgeon SVI (Seminal Vesicle Invasion) is more important a prognostic factor compared to Gleason Score which from 7b (4+3=7) and upwards doesn't scale linearly. We are both high risk, I am a bit higher than you are, but the 5 year BCR-free prognosis is only ~20%. I am already BCR with a PSADT of 9.5 months which denotes intermediate-to-low aggressiveness. I have posted a number of times the importance of a reliable PSADT to the point that I am fed up of nonsense type: "there is no PSADT bellow 0.1" which recently was changed to "PSADT bellow 0.1 is not validated".

[Don_1213]

I'll repeat what I've posted several times here - the numbers are not absolute. The difference you're seeing can be a machine calibration, a different tech running the machine or even a different machine or lab.

I had radiation treatments so my numbers will naturally be higher than yours.

Due to a phlebotomist's decision (I was getting blood draws for two different MDs - both wanted PSA reads) - he drew 2 blood samples from me seconds apart. The two samples were (according to the reports) processed on the same machine by the same tech. Only thing is - the results were different. One was 0.17, the other was 0.23. Two samples, same time, same everything, but the numbers were different.

As was said in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Don't Panic! (and the answer to life is 42..)

BTW - just (10 minutes ago) got my latest PSA results.. went from 0.19 to 0.23 - cause to worry? Nope. 6 months ago it was 0.27.. not to worry.