Can cancer grow while PSA stays undetectable ?

[mynacho]

I am almost 2 years since my diagnosis MPC. I did not have radiation nor Surgery since cancer was in my pelvic bone already.I had ADT since they 1 and I responded quite well.I started with Firmagon and Abirateron and now get Lupron injections every 3 months and take half Dose Erleada daily (2x 60 mg ) My PSA stays undetectable <0.05 and all my blood work is normal.However lately I feel bone and joint pain and neuropathy in my feet.My last CT and bone scan in January also showed no metastasis and previous ones resolved.Do you think the pains are from the meds ? Should I worry ?.My MO did not order PSMA thinking ADT would not really show much and also we should save it for a rainy day due to insurance reasons.Any suggestions thoughts ?

[JrTOO]

Nubeqa--research if this newer drug is appropriate to your PC and treatment.

[CurrentSEO]

ADT gives very often joints pain and neuropathy, I don’t know about bones pain from ADT (might be).

PSMA PET/CT at this low level PSA level highly unlikely will bring any results.

With prolonged ADT some percentage of cancer might mutate in some patients and could grow without PSA expression… however 2 years seems too short for that.

Maybe discuss with your MO intermittent therapy… it comes with risks … but brings benefits by given your body chance to recover. Sometimes less is more.

Worrying will not help anyway😉

Search please forum, here was some good suggestions in the past to counteract neuropathy and joints pain with supplements and medications … some of them was unfortunately deleted.

I’m not a doctor. My opinion is the your pain and other side effects you are experiencing are from ADT treatments.

Best of luck!

[lowT163]

my mo still says MRI is the standard for locating PC. You could get one of those but do it where they do a lot of them for our disease. After that ADT caused me joint pain and still does 3 years after I stopped it. The .05 rules out the Psma and other pet scans.

Good luck

[j-o-h-n]

Can cancer grow while PSA stays undetectable?

Once being a "lay" person...... my guess is those fucking little son of bitches never sleep.....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 07/08/2023 3:39 PM DST

[RayVarella62]

My Radiologist and MO say very unlikely

[Scoofer33]

You can look at my profile for the particulars, but in my experience... and in my weird cancer, there has been radiographic evidence of new lesions becoming visible during chemo (taxotere) with my PSA remaining stable.

[Scoofer33]

Sorry that was me having tunnel vision. Please pay attention to the great posts others have left for you, including Tall Allen!

[Cooolone]

PSA by itself, let alone in advanced metastatic disease is not a good tracker for progression... To answer your question, yes, PSA naive disease does exist, whether or not you have it, ie, neuroendocrine, would be revealed by testing. Typically imaging is used and considered more reliable than just blood testing PSA.

Best Regards