PSA Testing

kbota, you are doing great at .04 but you should get an ultra sensitive test if only to ease your mind. I know that I can get pretty worked up every two weeks before my thrice yearly shot and check up. Probably one of the guys will write you the name of an excellent lab to do the UST.Me, after going in with a 511 I'm happy with my present 4.5, lol . . . Q

Quincy, I'm so sorry for your stats, but thank you for the advice. I plan to discuss the UST with my uro.

TA, it's <0.04

When my uro comes in, his announcement is
non-detect, so I'll quizz him a little more next visit.

Thanks guys

K

K,
The ultra sensitive testing has never been proven to be beneficial. I know a few docs that would argue the point but to belabor it, it's more expensive and more nerve racking. Those are the only two points I could make about it. I'be be more interested in your T levels. My bet from my own experience is that you are in the low 200's to low normal (275). But you can be the judge by telling us if you are watching less HGTV, demanding the remote more, or thinking the furniture is fine where it is. Oh And maybe experiencing a bit more feistiness...

Good luck with the testing and stay well...

Tony

Out of the mouths of babes. Gasman, I wanted to ask the same question, but deferred, thinking i might kick another hornets nest. Great trilogy for a read, by the way. Stiegs Larson's work. google

Dave. Although I had negative margins (whew), nodes, and seminal vesicles, I was still a G9. In 2010, When my uro first proposed HT to me, it was very controversial. Dr Oliver Sartor at Tulane, and a Dr Lu at MDA (Houston) both said to do nothing except monitor psa. My uro has a personal experience with cancer, and his Dad had PCa. He attends most, if not all of the urological seminars on prostate issues, and flies to San Diego, NYC, and Dallas often for classes, meetings, etc.... I consider him to be fairly close to cutting edge in regards to PCa.
He shared with me several studies that showed a statistically significant advantage doing HT as an adjuvant treatment in cases such as mine.

I'll admit to not understanding most of it, but I trust him. He did a bang up job with my open RP, and my only SE from surgery has been the ED.

I hope this helps a little.

PS; at my last visit, my uro said he had talked to dr Sartor, and he has changed his position within the last year. Not sure about MDA.

Kbota,
A tale of 2 psa tests!! Ok, I flunked high school math and didn't know what a <(carot) was..Had a test by the VA and my psa was <.05 with no explanation so I had one done at my civilian institution and it was <.03 which it had been for a year or so...This was done within the space of 2 days....So, as you know the < means that they can't read any lower on the machines that they have..Although you may open up "a can of worms", since you are now off lupron and have high psa anxiety, I don't see any reason for you not to have another psa test prior to visiting with your URO...All the best to you!!
Off topic--Need to have Mrs WW update her signature to include the "undetectable".. The woman is going to give me a heart attack yet!!
Bill

K,

A reading to two decimal places is "ultra sensitive", so with a <0.04, you are already getting one.

I had this same discussion with my GP Thursday, as the insurance company is forcing a change in labs again. The new lab offers two tests:

1) "Screening" which offers results to one decimal place, with which you would be a <0.1, or "undetectable".

2) "Post Surgery" which offers results to two decimal paces, but they do not specify the lower detection limit. Your <0.04 would be "undetectable" in that scheme.

We called the lab, and they said that they process "ultra-sensitive" requests as "Post surgery".

My uro uses Bostwick, but will not do ultra-sensitive. He considers it unneeded anxiety.

Thanks 142,

I had been silently wondering about this. I had thought that a two decimal reading WAS the ultra sensitive reading & I'm glad that you confirmed this.

Thanks again,
Chuck

Resident of Highland, Indiana just outside of Chicago, IL.
July 2011 local PSA lab reading 6.41 (from 4.1 in 2009). Mayo Clinic PSA Sept. 2011 was 5.7.
Local urologist DRE revealed significant BPH, but no lumps.
PCa Dx Aug. 2011 at age of 61.
Biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in 3 of 20 cores (one 5%, two 20%). T2C.
Gleason score 3+3=6.
CT of abdomen, bone scan both negative.
DaVinci prostatectomy 11/1/11 at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), nerve sparing, age 62.
My surgeon was Dr. Matthew Tollefson, who I highly recommend.
Final pathology shows tumor confined to prostate.
5 lymph nodes, seminal vesicles, extraprostatic soft tissue all negative.
1.0 x 0.6 x 0.6 cm mass involving right posterior inferior,
right posterior apex & left mid posterior prostate.
Right posterior apex margin involved by tumor over a 0.2 cm length, doctor says this is insignificant.
Prostate 98.3 grams, tumor 2 grams. Prostate size 5.0 x 4.7 x 4.5 cm.
Abdominal drain removed the morning after surgery.
Catheter out in 7 days. No incontinence, occasional minor dripping.
Post-op exams 2/13/12, 9/10/12, PSA <0.1. PSA tests now annual.
Semi-firm erections now happening 14 months post-op & VERY slowly getting a bit stronger.