"in house" PSA's ??

island time said...
My urologist uses LabCorp. that's where all my PSA's have been done. Two days ago I saw my internist for another reason that required drawing blood. He asked me if he wanted me to run another PSA as well...and I said "Sure".

It came back .02

This is a practice of several doctors and evidently they do their own blood work (they have quite the set up....a small hospital lol)

Anyone ever heard of this anything like this before? Doctors running their own PSA's?

(the way I know this is....when I saw the result I called them to ask them what lab they use....Labcorp, Quest, etc....and they told me they do their own in house)

Thank you

yes

Hi Island,

I recently authored a post on my PSA. It's been bouncing around at low levels after RRP 2 years ago, as you can see on my profile. I noticed that your previous PSA was .05 - but the most recent measurement came back at .02.

My previous jumped from .01 to .03. I had it checked (out-of-pocket) at a nationally renown lab 3 weeks later and it came back @ <.006. Hmmm. Apparently numbers that small lose accuracy somewhere along the line. In my particular case I don't think benign tissue or other PSA producing tissue would elevate it to .03. I was happy to see <.006. But who knows the reality of the matter? I'll just chill out and wait a couple more months until my next PSA check is due.

Btw, mine were not checked by a lab at a doctor's group. Both labs in my situation were large and known nationwide. But certainly any lab that is licensed must undergo stringent licensing requirements that includes routine monitoring for accuracy by the overseers. But different labs, base on their testing techniques, apparently produce different results. I'm no expert. Just a shot in the dark.

thanks guys I was going to get another one done before SRT anyway....and since I was there I thought "why not".....all the while knowing that sticking with the same lab cuts down on confusion and inconsistencies (Howard, thanks )


NKinney....that answers that I'd never heard of it before so I thought I'd tap the brain trust here. thanks


Andrew....fun? I know the feeling


TJ......I'm no expert either so...blind leadin' the blind'....(good enough for your truly).....I understand about the same lab and the reasons for it....however.....if one is headed into SRT.....my thinking is...that if one lab says .13 and another lab says .02.....then hold off on the SRT until both labs are showing a trend. even though lab results vary....they should still show the same tendencies....says the blind man. It's difficult to progress into a serious treatment when all the indicators don't align...doesn't matter to me what lab says it.

One man's take.

IT, I'm in a similar spot. After trending up (<.05, .09, .10) I committed to SRT, then my latest PSA came in at <.05 again. Consensus (esp. TA and my RO) is it must be medical miracle or lab error. Given my high-risk pathology, I'm probably going ahead with RT+ADH anyway.
Your pathology's more favorable than mine, I would certainly hold off until a retest showed me whether the .05 is righteous.

Dr Scholz routinely runs his own - he gives you results during your visit.

I have the option of having my PSA run when I go to my doctor's office. But since I'm an analog guy in a digital world, I'm more than happy to wait a couple of days for them to call my landline and leave a message. (For two years, I've been saying *call my cell!*)

I have zero expertise on SRT (or much of anything, come to think of it), but really? What was the RO's reasoning if you don't mind me asking...

I test positive on any machine made by Siemens. I've tried on several different assays in different parts of the world and it always comes out detectable at a low level. However, Labcorp and Quest show undetectable with the "<" sign and so far, any Beckman Coulter, Abbott Architect, Roche Cobas and several Japanese machines show me undetectable.

For me, the solution is just to not to rely on any Siemens assay. As far as I can determine, the Roche Cobas assay used by Labcorp in most parts of the US is the most sensitive generally available assay and goes down to < 0.006. Just stick with that if you want an ultrasensitive PSA. If you utilize some of the online lab test sites, you can get a PSA test at Labcorp for around $100.

There is another forumer Worried Guy who tested positive on Siemens for awhile and then changed to Labcorp and has been undetectable ever since, so I'm not the only case

Michael_T said...
I have zero expertise on SRT (or much of anything, come to think of it), but really? What was the RO's reasoning if you don't mind me asking...

He thinks that .05 and the size of the margin says I got cancer. And, not to be cute...but....he thinks it needs to be cured. It's one man's opinion. But...this guy's no idiot. It's wild.....at these larger cancer centers....I think they can sometimes tell what's going on with ya just by looking at ya. It's wild.



Prato......I'm hearin' ya baby lol...I'm hearin' ya. But I've got this feeling like that deputy with one arm in Unforgiven who was bein' made fun of by his buddies for taking so many bullets to a gun fight with English Bob....who said....."I just don't wanna get shot fer lack 'a shootin' back". My side and back has hurt for a year and a half. That's what caused me to go check about those cysts. It also caused me to have lipsotripsy on a stone. I also got a colonoscopy. All because I hurt and tryin' to stop it. Now we're lookin' at my lol my kidneys again. When people hurt....it makes ya think about medicine more than is healthy to do. If I didn't hurt I don't think I'd be worryin' about PSA like this....even though it's not the PCa that's causing me to hurt.

Native....I'm wondering about the same thing. But these tests are more accurate I think post surgery than pre-surgery. One day...it was just by coincidence of scheduling....that I happened to have my PSA checked before surgery twice in on day at different offices. They were a point apart.

Weightloss....that's incredidble. You more about this these machines than anyone I've ever met.

InTheShop said...
just wondering if you could buy a PSA testing machine and keep it in your garage or something...

/www.ebay.com/p/Siemens-dpc-Immulite-1000-Immunochemistry-Analyzer/1283376147

Note: free shipping

Needs to be kept in controlled environment. Move it from garage into your spare bedroom.

Post Edited (NKinney) : 2/22/2018 10:15:28 AM (GMT-7)