Should I be concerned?

[gwhaia]

Hoping for some guidance, just had my PSA tested using the ultra-seneitive method and it came back less than 0.2. Up until now, my RP and radiation were 3 years ago, the PSA has come back less than 0.1. Any reason for me to be concerned?

[gwhaia]

Not to boast or anything but I was on vacation the week before the test and my wife and I had more sex than usual. Could that have something to do with it?

[Bryan_Metcalf_UK Moderator]

I agree that this is a minor issue for now. 16 yrs ago and 4 yrs after RRP my PSA doubled to 19 in 6 months, so we started hormone manipulation treatment.

[AlanMeyer Moderator]

I'm suspicious of the report of "<0.2". When a report contains the "less than" sign "<", I thought that meant that the test showed that the PSA is less than the number (0.2 in this case), but the test is incapable of determining how much less.

If this were truly an ultrasensitive test, it should have easily been able to resolve numbers much lower than 0.2. It would, for example, have been able to say 0.19, 0.18, etc. I seem to recall seeing some ultrasensitive test reports that say "<0.005" and I'm sure I've seen "<0.01", which is 20 times more sensitive than the report you got.

So I think something is wrong with your test report. It's either NOT an ultrasensitive test, or it was incorrectly reported. I suspect the former. I suspect that you were given a test that should be used for testing the PSA of patients who have never been treated, not for patients like you.

If this is right, you have absolutely no medical concerns from this test except that your lab and your doctor aren't paying attention to what they're doing as they should be.

Alan

[gwhaia in reply to AlanMeyer]

Thanks. Not paying attention would not surprise me in the least. My urologist's practice was recently gobbled up by a larger hospital based conglomerate and a lot has changed. A lot. I'll double check just what was ordered and what was performed.

[adlerman in reply to AlanMeyer]

Maybe someone saw 0.02- thought it was wrong and dropped the zero.

[gwhaia in reply to adlerman]

Well, that is exactly what happened. I got the actual test results and the reading is 0.02. The receptionist/nurse who read it to me over the phone dropped the first zero. Maybe they should train these people better.

[bitittle in reply to AlanMeyer]

I agree with Alan on the <0.2 result of not being an ultrasensitve test. I had RP 3 yrs ago and my PSA is rising. I have elected to choose salvage radiation as treatment. My last 2 psa ultrasensitve tests 1 month apart were 0.157 and 0.182. This month I am confident I will hit the BCR level of 0.2. I started radiation to prostate bed yesterday a total of 35 treatments. I am a high risk PSA cancer with localized Gleason 9 PCA. No node involvement, no distant metastasis and negative margins. It appears the RP didn't quite get it all. I am hoping the remaining cancer is in prostate bed. No evidence yet cancer has progressed elsewhere. I would definitely inquire further into your test results.

[ng27868168]

A reminder to everyone. An important item to add when asking for advice is your age. However, that isn't a big raise. But be vigilant.

[ritchiek]

Your PSA values are low but rising. You must either have a small amount of benign prostate tissue that is still making PSA , or a small amount of functional prostate cancer.

Most ultra-sensitive PSA assays are positive once the PSA is equal to , or more than , 0.03ng/ml.You quote your figures as less than ; I think you mean more than.