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PSA level slowly rising

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Posted 10/9/2017 7:39 PM (GMT 0)
New to this forum and hope I'm posting correctly.

67 year old and my PSA level is creeping upwards. I have an annual DRE and most recent one was 5 days ago. The Urologist wasn't concerned when my PSA was at 4.0.

His nurse called today and said the PSA test from 5 days ago was at 4.5 with no additional instructions from the doctor. This PSA was taken after his office visit so he didn't have the latest results. The DRE was ok.

As you can see below when my PSA reached 4.0 in December 2016 he then started testing PSA every 3 months.

My next scheduled visit is April 2018. Although the Doctor didn't seem too concerned about the 4.0 reading I am concerned that it jumped to 4.5 since the last test 3 months ago.

Is this normal at my age? Thanks for any input.

October 2013 3.44
October 2014 3.76
December 2015 2.80
December 2016 4.60
December 2016 (retest) 4.00
March 2017 4.00
July 2017 4.00
October 2017 4.50
Posted 10/9/2017 8:03 PM (GMT 0)
It seems to be creeping up slowly, which may just be a result of your prostate enlarging with age. Did your doctor estimate its size from the DRE? There is another blood test called Prostate Health Index (PHI) that is more specific for cancer than PSA or % free PSA and includes both.
Posted 10/9/2017 8:14 PM (GMT 0)

jr70895 said...
This PSA was taken after his office visit so he didn't have the latest results. The DRE was ok.

If the PSA blood draw was soon after the DRE that alone could account for the higher reading on the most recent test.

The readings don't seem to be anything to be too concerned about at this point, but they are worth keeping an eye on.
Posted 10/9/2017 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to HW.

What TA said. PHI might be useful at this point as well as getting a size estimate.

Hang in there,
Andrew
Posted 10/9/2017 9:49 PM (GMT 0)
Received a call back from the Doctor today. He wants to do another PSA test in 2 weeks. If it also comes back at 4.5 or higher he said we can talk about a biopsy.

Thanks
Posted 10/9/2017 11:05 PM (GMT 0)
That's a good idea - lab errors can affect the readings. If it's confirmed, a biopsy wouldn't be unreasonable.

Andrew
Posted 10/9/2017 11:50 PM (GMT 0)
An MRI might spare you the biopsy.
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