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Posted 11/5/2020 3:44 PM (GMT 0)
Hello,

I posted here a year ago as I was first sent to urologist because of a 3.3 PSA test at age 47. I saw the urologist, he did a DRE and found nothing. He had me retested and my PSA dropped to 2.5. I had ejaculated the night before for the 3.3 reading as at the time I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to do that. I abstained for the 2.5 result. We agreed to wait a year for my next physical to see where I'm at.

I had the blood-work yesterday and my PCP had me also tested for Free PSA in addition to the regular test. I am still waiting for the regular result but I did get the Free PSA result - 21.1%. I read that under 10% is really bad and from 10-25% is bad but somewhat ambiguous.

Could I please have seem feedback about how a 21.1% score rates and how others with a similar result reacted? Thanks!
Posted 11/5/2020 11:04 PM (GMT 0)
It seems that your low Total PSA, 2.5-3.3, and Free PSA of 21% would not be a bad result as both numbers have to considered but you are relatively young. Usually Free PSA is used with Total PSA of 4 to 10 so not sure what it means with lower numbers. Link below might help a little.

https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/download-setup.php?format=pdf&unit_code=81944
Posted 11/6/2020 12:43 AM (GMT 0)

JasonB176 said...
Hello,

I posted here a year ago as I was first sent to urologist because of a 3.3 PSA test at age 47. I saw the urologist, he did a DRE and found nothing. He had me retested and my PSA dropped to 2.5. I had ejaculated the night before for the 3.3 reading as at the time I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to do that. I abstained for the 2.5 result. We agreed to wait a year for my next physical to see where I'm at.

I had the blood-work yesterday and my PCP had me also tested for Free PSA in addition to the regular test. I am still waiting for the regular result but I did get the Free PSA result - 21.1%. I read that under 10% is really bad and from 10-25% is bad but somewhat ambiguous.

Could I please have seem feedback about how a 21.1% score rates and how others with a similar result reacted? Thanks!

was the PSA test you mention taken the same day as free PSA?
Posted 11/6/2020 12:18 PM (GMT 0)
21% is not bad, in the brighter side of the grey zone. Free psa is a good complementary test, just take note that it is not so relevant if your prostate is large, I do not know if applies to you. In that case most of the psa is due to the enlarged prostate which also gives a good deal of free psa. Therefore, any possible lowering of free psa fraction is "diluted". On the other hand, an enlarged prostate would explain why you have a relatively high psa for your age.
Posted 11/6/2020 1:00 PM (GMT 0)
I finally got my regular PSA reading - 2.9. My doctor recommended a retest in three months' time. Maybe because he considered the 21.1% Free score to be pretty good, he's taking a measured approach on the next step.

I assume he'll want to do Free and regular PSA together again in February.

When I had the DRE last year, my prostate was normal size.

Thanks!
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