CLL vs Prostate

[Happyhtr8]

Does CLL affect the prostate and cause high PSA numbers. I'm in stage 0 with WBC count averaging 17-20. My prostate is pretty freaking big and I'm searching for causes. Thanks!

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

Hi Happyhtr8,

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I was diagnosed in 2008 and progressed to needing treatment for my CLL 4 times (My ALC was as high as 247 and as low as 80 when I started treatments due to fatigue and dropping red blood components).

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I believe that each time I progressed towards treatment, my Lymph nodes swelled and there was a minor increase in my prostate. But overall the average size of the prostate kept increasing until the side effects of BPH were enough that I had a TULVP in 2020.

During all of that my PSA actually was trending down.

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I would urge you to have a urologist monitor your PSA and determine whether your enlargement is benign enough to continue Watch & Wait for that also. I don't recall ever hearing that CLL increased PSA.

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But you can check for the past postings by looking for the box on this page labeled:

Related Posts

*CLL/SLL and prostate cancer healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

*Possible prostate problem with CLL healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

*Prostate biopsies and Cll healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

*How common is it for CLL to be diagnosed by a prostate biopsy? healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

*CLL of the prostate healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

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Len

[Happyhtr8 in reply to lankisterguy]

Thank you for the links. They were most helpful. Thanks to all that responded. I'm not real sure how to correctly navigate here and time is limited. I hope I didn't offend anyone by not responding to all directly.

[lankisterguy Volunteer in reply to Happyhtr8]

Hi Happyhtr8,-

I don't think most of us here expect a direct or personal answer.

We usually just relay our own experiences.

But as you are seeing, nearly every CLL patient is different, and we all have multiple medical things happening.

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Even our doctors after 14 years of intense study & medical learning are baffled by what things are directly related to CLL and those medical mysteries that happen indirectly because CLL has upset our immune systems in different ways.

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I often say that if we look closely, we can find CLL cells at the scene of nearly all medical issues, but we rarely know if CLL is a perpetrator of the crime or just an innocent bystander (since CLL cells are everywhere in our bodies wherever there is blood or lymph fluid).

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Len

[RZ8983DV]

I don't think there is any connection. I have been on watch and wait for CLL since2008 with relatively low WBC and Lymphs. Had prostate problems Was a few years on Tamsulosin but need surgery (HOLEP) 5 years ago. My prostate condition was benign.

[Fran57]

Hello. I can’t answer your question as to any connection, but I wanted to let you know that my husband, who has CLL, was also diagnosed with prostate cancer, purely by chance. His PSA level was raised ( he had no symptoms whatsoever) and he underwent tests which showed the prostate cancer. He has since had radiotherapy and now continues to have hormone injections (probably for two years) ; he has recently been told that his PSA level is now excellent and will just be seen by urology, not oncology, for this.

I hope this helps a bit… do get it checked further, just in case.

Stay safe,

Fran 😷

[LeoPa]

Do you know how big is your prostate? In case of a benign prostate hyperplasia and a prostate of 40 grams the PSA could be 4 and that would still be considered normal. I've heard about people with prostates over 80 g having benign hyperplasia with PSA up to eight. Still acceptable for senior citizens. Mine was recently 36 g and I've been on tamsulosin for 4 years. 2 years out of those 4 also on dutasteride. That was now stopped and I'm back on monotherapy with tamsulosin. No problems with urination and so far it looks to be benign. I keep telling myself if it was malign the urologist would have found out already.

[marrix]

I've had an enlarged prostate (BPH) as long as I can remember with PSA'a typically under 4.0. I was diagnosed with CLL in May 2016 from blood labs required for a tonsillectomy at age 67 to aleviate sleep apnea. In June of 2020 I started V&O treatment which lasted 17 months. To go off treatment I had clonoSEQ MRD's (all negative) plus a CT scan to confirm no core lymph node involvement - all were negative. However, the CT scan show I had a tumor on my Prostate, so went to my Urologist who checked PSA (4.97) and did a biopsy. The biopsy showed cancer in 10 of the 13 samples with a Gleason score of 3+4=7 most importantly the cancer was contained within the prostate capsule. So while my PSA was never high the cancer was determined to be intermediate risk. Due to CLL + treatment I have very low platelets, WBC / RBC / ALC / ANC ruling out Prostatectomy so went with Radiotherapy + ADT this past spring. Urologist said my PSA should have been much higher given the stage of the tumor but felt the CLL treatment may have masked or artificially lowered the PSA's.

[DanBro1]

Speaking for myself, I completed my CLL treatment regimen March 1st. I had a PSA blood test last month (May 2022) and it came back .5. Anything under 4.0 is considered "normal". That being said, my prostate is mildly enlarged. I frequent the toilet 2-3 times per night. I am trying to limit my liquid intake in the evenings to see if I can reduce those visits.

[Yalokin in reply to DanBro1]

How old were you that I don't see in your profile?

I've never had such a low PSA. This should keep you calm for at least 2 years to come (and it's greatly reduced).

[Yalokin]

Prostate cancer is a very nasty thing.

Sometimes missed during diagnosis, even during a biopsy.

The upper limit is 4 on PSA, but not everything is pure white. There are quite a few cases with proven cancer in PSA 2.8 for example. As well as no cancer in PSA 7-8 for example.

In case of doubt, the relationship between PSA and FreePSA is monitored. Acid phosphatase is also examined.

The time of PSA growth is monitored, as well as the PSA / prostate volume ratio. There are empirical rules.

It is desirable to perform a so-called fusion biopsy in case of doubt from an ultrasound finding or a digital examination.

I have a friend who had 2 fusion biopsies of his father, which are paid for by the patient in our country and are not cheap, and they could not find anything for him with a PSA of more than 25.

And do you know who cured him?

An 80-year-old professor from a provincial university hospital. It turned out that she had tuberculosis of the prostate and drank an antediluvian antibiotic for 2 months and recovered.

Shame!

Whether there is a connection with CLL - I have not met such correlations, but compromised immunity is not a small reason.

Greetings!

[Pacificview]

It can effect the prostate, but its rare. Just before I was diagnosed with CLL. I started having what felt like a UTI, this was 3 years ago. I was treated a few times with antibiotics. But the benefit only lated while taking the antibiotic. Meaning pain was reduced.I checked PSA and it was starting to rise.

Hitting a peak of 8.7 if I recall. So local clinic said time to go to a Urologist. By this time I was producing stones in the bladder and spitting them out. Urologist said I needed a Turp procedure. To reduce the size of the prostate and to fix the stone problem. Due to the urethra being strangled and bladder being pushed on by BPH.

So, had the turp. Biopsy came back with infiltration of the Prostate with CLL. I am one of the very rare instance of prostate infiltration by cll.

I have been treating the pain for three years with opiods. Trying to avoid any more tampering with my privates. Discomfort has increased over the three years since Turp.

Question is? Would treatment for CLL reduce the swelling in the prostate from CLL infiltration? Is CLL infiltration the main cause of my prostrate groin pain?

Hemo/uro said the prostate may be a reason to treat. To be quite honest. I am sick of groin pain, opiods and am about ready to try treatment.

Its interesting that as my CLL numbers increase my prostate bothers me more. I will be talking more about this with my hemo/onco at next visit.

My doubling times are still indolent. My spleen is larger than normal now. I have some swollen lymph nodes, including internal, fatigue, hot flashy. None of those would motivate me on there own to treat, except the prostate.

By the way, my prostate lights up on Pet Scan.

And confirmed by biopsy infiltrate. No prostate cancer, just CLL.

Hope some of this helps?

Let me know how it goes with you?