New PSA reading of 0.45 DR suggusting Avodart?

I had my 3 month post-op checkup on Wed and the doctor just called with the results. In the past I had his clinic do the reading and they could only go to <.04 . Since being a member here and reading this forum, I had requested the additional testing be done at the lab so that I would get a more defined number. It came back today at 0.45 .... not a startling number but the doctor now wants to but me on avodart for two months and watch what happens! He tough the increase might be a false reading due to a benign glandular issue .... DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS? Should I ask for more testing of some sort or go with his instruction? Larry

Larry

I agree with Frank that your PSA is what most docs (mine included) regard as a "zero" and therefore should not give much cause for concern. (I never made it as far as <0.1 though). I have no knowledge about Avodart but your doc may be thinking of extra treatment due to certain parts of your post op-pathology specifically:
The upgrade from 3+4 to 4+3 (I had the same upgrade)
The presence of a bit of 5
The EPE.

I would however have thought that the doc might consider waiting to see what a 6 month PSA test showed.
And I'd ask for a bit more explanation about WHY he wants to try Avodart this soon.
Alfred

Question everything and always is my motto and for plenty of reasons. Avodart will mask your true psa number, do we want to do that right now??? Like you could not possibly go and get other psa tests now or month(s) or weeks from now...you don't need any docs permission to go get a psa test..go elsewhere..even pay for it if you have to. Are people afraid of upsetting their doc by doing tests or going elsewhere for second opinions? Why worry about upsetting a doc, you are the one with the omnious future and not the doc.

It might be interesting to see what some other doc says right now, that is not affiliated in any way with the current doc.

Larry, I agree with the recommendation on second opinions. As you can see from my signiture, my PSA recently increased from .05 tp .28 and I am a gleason 8. My doctor immediately ordered a second test to confirm the increase. I have set up an appointment with a local medical oncologist and I hope to set up an appointment at Dana Farber (close to my home) early next week. I am waiting for a call back. Also, I have a regular post op appt with my surgeon in two weeks. Talk to a few other Drs about your options. Good luck. Frank

Hi Guys .... Thank you all for responding! We haven't heard back from the DR this weekend (not hearing was sort of expexcted) but I will be in touch with him first thing Monday morning. I've tried to readup on Avodart and couldn't find much! Like Zufus and Geebra have said this doesn't seem the way to go at this point unless the Doc can fully explain it. If the real number is .045 I would expect we'd be looking at radation treatments in the near future. How would we know where to treat? I know they could treat the empty prostate bed but the problem could be elsewhere in the body. Does anyone know what other test are availablt to locat or pinpoint PCA elsewhere in the body? I'm not in panic mode but very concerned and disappointed.

Larry,
I agree that Adovart doesn't make a lot of sense. The point of radiation is to go for a cure assuming the PC is still in the prostate bed; if it is not, radiation is just a waste of time increasing your side affects. There is no way to accurrately this at this point in time. There were a number of tests that could have been run before surgery that would have given a probability of organ confined PC.
I would run your pre surgery numbers through partin tables and artificial neural networks (download from Hopkins and the PCRI) There are also some nomograms in which to plug your post surgery numbers available at Hopkins. Once you have looked at this data you can make a better decision on what to do next. If your doctor did not use these tools and explain them to you before your treatment you may want to find a doctor that does.
Good luck,
JT

First and foremost thanks to everyone that responded! I did as advised and when to see the doc today for a retest of the PSA. There was great news the PSA was actually .045 not the .45 as stated on Friday. It was a rough weekend thinking that it had jumped so much in only two months. We are going ahead with the Avodart treatment. He explained that if the current PSA is due to a benign tissue then the Avodart will cause the count to go down within two months, but if the PSA is due to cancer still being in the system them the count will remain at .045 or continue to increase. I trust him so we're going with it! Thanks again guys .... it truly is a comfort having this forum!

Thx Skeener me too that was HUGE !