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December uPSA results good???

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Posted 12/5/2016 7:30 PM (GMT 0)
OK guys, I did not want to just post this under the December test results because I have a concern about my December uPSA, which is my second one since RP on June 1, 2016 and I was hoping to hear from a few experienced uPSA testing guys.

My Dec 1, 2016 uPSA.......<.014. Now, I am thrilled.....I think. I used the same exact lab (Labcorp) as my first uPSA (Sept 1, 2016) and that was <.006. I find it hard to beleive that Labcorp used a different test apparatus this time, but I guess they did. I mean, a reading of .005 both times hold tru to both my printable results. It is <.006 and <.014. So, I am a little confused.

I have read on HW about the fluctuations on the uPSA causing anxiety, but this one is weird, where Labcorp changed their < threshold from one test to the next.

Oh well, I guess I'll celebrate tonight......I think.

J
Posted 12/5/2016 7:32 PM (GMT 0)
Celebrate.

You are over-thinking it.
Posted 12/5/2016 8:13 PM (GMT 0)
WOOOOOOOOOOT   Time for a beer Jay!   Congrats!
Posted 12/5/2016 8:56 PM (GMT 0)
As long as you get that "<" on a uPSA there's nothing to worry about. Congrats!
Posted 12/6/2016 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
OK guys, took your words to heart and scheduled and booked a family vacation for May 2017 last night. I was figuring that if I did have rising PSA at 6 months (this last test) that I would most likely be facing SRT around that time (May 2017). So, even if my next test shows any rise (March 2017), I figure any additional treatment would commence most likely the summer of 2017 and after this trip.

So, we are off to Disney World one last time as a family of 5. I am happy that my two college age boys are happy to come along and join my wife and I and their 13 year old sister. Maybe my diagnosis changed their attitude, I'm not sure. But I am happy we can all do this one more time.

J
Posted 12/8/2016 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
I can explain the different readings. I also had a 0.006 reading in September and questioned the result by emailing and then speaking to a director of Labcorp in NJ. I understood that the low limit of detection is less than 0.014 ng/ml and asked then how I could get a reading of 0.006. I was told that the reading represented a computer glitch and the test result was canceled and reissued as 'less than 0.014'. I was also told that other people's results with this same glitch would be reissued. Interestingly my result this week is now 0.012 which is below the limit of detection. My take on this after discussing with the lab director, in Sept, is that the 0.006 is the number that the test determines but has a high degree of error in it since it is very low and the technique is not so sensitive to produce a reliable and consistent number. So Labcorp cannot really stand behind this number with any degree of certainty, which is why they should usually report as less than 0.014.
So remember that the test uncertainty is very high at these levels, and that there can be traces of psa produced by other organs in the body, so just consider that we are in good shape with numbers as low as this, and as long as we are less than 0.1, we do not really care what the numbers are. You cannot establish any data trend with these low numbers. Hope this helps
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