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PSA doubling time

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Posted 8/5/2009 1:10 PM (GMT 0)
Before surgery, Bill's PSA went from 10 to 15 in 4 months. I calculated this as about a 6 month doubling time. After surgery, it went from .11 to .2 in about two weeks. I calculated this as .6 month doubling time. Something seems off. How does his doubling time get so much faster after surgery? Is this as scary as  I think?

Best to all,

Dana

Posted 8/5/2009 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
First of all, this is not yet particularly scary. These are both low PSA numbers and could be within the limits of error for some labs, so I wouldn't even calculate doubling. I don't understand why there was a second PSA test only two weeks after the first. Did your doctor have some particular concern that made him order a quick retest?

With a high Gleason and some lymph node involvement there may be some radiation treatment in your husband's future, but that is not the end of the world and you will find lots of guys on this site who have finished off their cancer this way.

Keep us informed.
Posted 8/5/2009 5:03 PM (GMT 0)
Dana,
Sorry to hear about your husband. A PSA doubling time of less than one year before treatment is indicative of a serious, agressive PC. Doubling time after surgery is usually faster because the PSA is a combination of psa generated by the prostate, which is slow, and psa generated by the PC which is fast. Doubling time increases because the slow or stable psa has been removed and only the fast growing psa generated by the PC remains. If PSA is still doubling at less than one year after treatment you should see an oncologist specializing in PC. The positive lymp node and high PSA doubling time indicate that the PC had already spread before his surgery. Radiation would not be a curative option.
Please get your husband to a good prostate oncologist as soon as possible.
JohnT
Posted 8/5/2009 11:46 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for the replies. He got a test a couple weeks later because it was at another hospital he is probably going to have radiation at. The other hospital also said it might take a little longer for the psa to go down after the surgery, so they were hoping it might be lower in a couple more weeks. He will definitely have radiation. His decision now is whether to have hormone treatment now as well. He was originally wanting to wait until after radiation to see if it rose after that and then do the HT. But all the doctors have been urging him to do it now. I think the rise in his psa may convince him to do it now rather than wait. Any thoughts?

Many thanks,

Dana

Posted 8/6/2009 1:21 AM (GMT 0)
Hello Dana,

Your husbands stats are pretty much on the heavy side, sounds like your most recent post's mention of what the doctor thinks might make sense to try to finish knocking out the rest of the PC before it does get out of hand.

David in SC

Good luck to the both of you
Posted 8/6/2009 2:48 AM (GMT 0)
Dana,
If it wasn't for the positive lymph node I would agree with radiation approach. The lymphnod indicates the PC is in his blood stream and is no longer localized. The sooner he goes on HT the better.
JohnT
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