Brother's strange PSAs leading to diagnosis

Ok, so I scream to my brothers to keep an eye out for PC and get screened.  But yet, my oldest brother (13 years older than me) was just recently diagnosed.  Check out his PSAs:

February 2012                 6.99

August 2011                    3.18

June 9, 2011                   9.1

June 2, 2011                 16.3

2-10-11                            .96

1-20-10                            .83

2-14-09                            .97

2-9-08                            1.09

2-1-07                             .83

12-7-05                          1.06    

 

In 4 months?  Who can exlain this for me?

 

Btw - so far he is a gleason 6,    8 of 12 cores positive.  He is 60.

 

Even though he is a g6, I believe active surveilance is out...

 

Thanks,

Jerry L.

A growing cancer only makes psa go up. Infection causes an up and down psa. One can have PC and an infection at the same time.

Jerry, not sure I understand your question. But keep in mind that while psa, Gleason score and number of cores are often correlated, they do not always go hand-in-hand in the typical pattern. Every case is not a "cookie-cutter" version of all other cases. One of (not the only) foundations of the saying to "treat the patient, not the number." I would say clearly there is some infection involvement which has confounded his psa result.

Is surgery the best option?

Update on my brother --- I had him get his biopsy results for me to look over. He also went to Johns Hopkins for a 2nd opinion...

Guess what --- the doctor flipped the numbers by accident....He does not have 8 positive...He has 8 negative...2 positive, 2 questionable...10% of core...

So, AS is probably now a good option..

Unbelievable...

Thanks