PSA numbers

Though I am not one of them, there are certainly a lot of guys who have relatively high PSA and no visible or tactile evidence of prostate cancer.

As much as the PSA metric itself, the PSA velocity or doubling time is a noteworthy metric. If those are annual results, the one that jumped from 6.5 to almost double at 11.5 (versus 13 to double in 12 months) would be the one to investigate which you apparently idd and biopsy was clear.

Now that the latest PSA actually went down from 11.5 to 10.5, you could continue to proactively surveil. If it were me though I would test the PSA every 6 months rather than annually.

If that 10.5 comes back at 15+ in 6 months, time for another biopsy be it the standard one or one of the newer types.

Not a medical profession by any stretch just an opinion.

LupronJim

I agree with Purg

Mel

Hey, watch it there, Peter.

I AIN't no dummy

mel

Art 25,my brother lives in Germany,and hi has a PAS of 15 and no cancer.

art24 said...
Well, for a few years now my doctors have been keeping an eye on my PSA numbers. PSA number started off at 4.5 one year, the next was 6.5 and has gone up to 11.5. Most recent PSA was 10.5 back in Jan. 2014, did the check up and the doctor wants to keep checking on it. Everything is normal when he checked me prostate feels normal.

This is a new doctor at the Mayo clinic I went there because my first doctor said that my PSA number was to high at that time it was 6.5 so he wanted to remove the prostate even after a biopsy was done a year before and nothing was found.

So I left him because my feelings were that he was to quick to want to remove it. And when I told him that I was going to get a 2nd opinion he said that he felt a lump when checking me. I went to the new doctor and he felt NO lump wonder why?

Everything is normal with me as far as I know, I give the doctor an honest answer to his questions about everything that is on his list.

My question is why are my numbers up? Are there any other men like me out there that have a high PSA number but, everything else checks out.

Hi,

PeterDisAbelard gave you some pretty good comments.

Can you tell us your age? Also, has any DRE revealed any enlargement of the prostate?

Your PSA reading is definitely rather high, probably more than would be justified by an enlargement (BPH).

You sure did the right thing by fleeing from that first doctor who wanted to do surgery with NO diagnosis of PC.

I'd stick with the uro at Mayo, which is where I ultimately had my surgery in 2011. You'll probably get far better care there than with the first doctor.

Funny thing about lumps on the prostate. My local family doctor told me, in 2009, that I had a small nodule on the left lobe. So I reluctantly visited a urologist in the area and he did a 45 minute DRE ("perceived" time -- actual time only about 1 minute). After this extremely long & thorough DRE, he informed me that I did NOT have any nodule.

However, although no nodule was ever confirmed, I did end up with a PC diagnosis two years later when the same uro did a biopsy. This was in 2011 after I had refused a biopsy in 2009. But my PSA had then jumped from about 4.1 to 6.41 in those two years which, of course, set off red flag alarms.

Do you have any family history of PC? Father, brothers, uncles, etc? If one of these had PC, your chances of having it someday are double the normal risk. If two or more had PC, the risk is tripled, etc.

Unless you have also been diagnosed with an infection to explain the PSA, you might want to consider another biopsy.

Did the doctor at Mayo actually say to just watch a PSA that is in double-digits? I'm surprised s/he did not recommend a biopsy.

In any event, you'll certainly want to have PSA tests every few months to watch for any upward movement. The thing I can't figure out, though, is why another biopsy has not been suggested since it already has doubled over the past few years.

Wishing you the best!
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.
Pathology showed Gleason 3 + 3, pT2c, N0, MX, R1
adenocarcinoma of the prostate.
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, 9/9/13 PSA <0.1. PSA tests now annual.
Firm erections now briefly happening in early mornings, 2 years post-op.

Post Edited (HighlanderCFH) : 2/25/2014 2:50:12 PM (GMT-7)

Thanks guys for all of your advice well, I am 62 right now and this all started when I was maybe 55. Yes the doctor at the Mayo wants to do another biopsy he said this back in early 2013. I have my prostate checked every year blood work and the good old finger wave. The physical check part of it the doctor says it feels fine, no lumps not enlarged normal to him.

The problem is the high PSA numbers. I have another doctor that I saw for a whole other reason and we got to taking. He said his PSA number got up to 25 at one time, that was last year when we talked about this and he is 63 years old. Had several biopsy's done and no cancer was found, we didn't get to finish chatting about it due that he had to get back to wok. So I am still here at 10.5 waiting for my next check up.

The hold up on the 2nd biopsy is me, my doctor is ready I guess I am the one hold up things.

RCS, there is a list given to me by the nurse to answer questions about my health everything from how many times do I wake up to go to the bathroom to sex. I think that it's about 8 to 10 questions, I think I have to write in a number and then add them up. Well, after answering all of the questions in a very honest manner the total is zero.

No bike riding ever done, and for sure nothing in any way shape or form about sex 7 days before the blood is drawn. I never have been told that having sex before a PSA could raise the numbers, I found this out on my own by just looking around the internet.

So as far as I believe I have never done anything to cause the problem of the numbers to go up. As for an enlarged prostate one doctor did give me some medication to just in case there was an infection that had cause the prostate to be enlarge. No real change after taking the medication for 7 days.

So I am back to square one to just watch, wait and see.

Thanks for the help.

I myself am done with this whole issue of life vs death. Life chose me and I choose life and if death choose's me, death will die. I will not scurry here and there following its bidding, I will not blink at it's glass eye, no sir , I will not… Wow I feel better already…… How bout y'all? Damm straight!!