Joining the club....

[tr305]

New to this. Not sure what Gleason is? How does it correlate to PSA number?

[Tall_Allen]

What were the results of your biopsy?

[tr305 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Haven't done it yet. Trying to get educated before I go. People have warned about over-diagnosis and over-treatment.

[Tall_Allen in reply to tr305]

Then the question you should be asking is - do I need a biopsy? That will depend on your PSA pattern (also PHI is a better test), your DRE, your family history, if you are African American, the size of your prostate, and urinary symptoms. You should make an attempt to rule out more common benign causes of elevated PSA before submitting to a biopsy.

[cfrees1]

There is not a direct correlation between your PSA score and your Gleason score (should you have PCa). We often talk about the PSA as a check engine light. It signals that something might be wrong but maybe it's just a loose gas cap. So until you reach the stage that you have a biopsy, you won't have a Gleason score. The PSA is an antigen that is produced by the prostate and prostate cells. A rise in PSA might signal that your prostate is in distress and is producing an increased amount of this antigen. It might be aggravation, an infection or it might be cancer. Only a biopsy can tell you for sure. The Gleason is a scoring of what the cancer cells in the prostate actually look like, and how aggressive the cancer is.

[tr305 in reply to cfrees1]

Thanks, very helpful.