Quest Labs!?!? Ugh! PSA Test .04 no < sign

After being undetectable for so long, I would ask the insurance company for a retest. When was the last undetectable test result?

At my 9 month mark, I had a result of 3.8 from Quest, 3 months after I got a <.02. I had my surgeon retest at the hospital lab and got <.02

Subsequently, I had a conversation with a Director of Science-Oncology Testing, and he told me they retested the same blood, a number of times, and could not reproduce the 3.8 result, it came back undetectable. Conclusion on the 3.8 was error, no explanation.

Get retested before you start getting nervous. Maybe the .04 is real. But there's a chance it's not

Yes, you are right, it's true that there is a bit of a controversy right now about PSA test results from Quest Diagnostics, as to just how significant it is (or isn't) when a "less than" sign is suddenly missing from a PSA test result when it was there before.

We had a good discussion about this very topic this past October:

www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=3522633

Since I am also one of the people who has experienced this phenomenon (lost the "less than" sign at my last PSA test, at QD, this past October), I have been occasionally following up since that time with web searches on this topic, to see if anything new about QD's PSA test results practice has been reported on the web. I've seen nothing so far. If I do come across anything, I will immediately report in a post here on this forum.

You will also likely be told by others more knowledgable about PSA test results than I am that your numbers are in such a low range, that it's too soon to be worried that a PCa resurgence is underway. Variations in numbers that low may just be "noise in the system." I assume the results you give are from an ultrasensitive PSA test, BTW?

You also might want to consider getting another PSA test from your original lab (Ohio Health?), even if you would have to pay for it yourself. (For consistency's sake one should always use the same lab anyway).

If you do that, you might just find that your PSA is still where it has been.

For what it is worth, Henry Ford Hospital (south east Michigan) only takes PSA results to one decimal point. For them <0.1 as the same as zero. When I asked why they do not take it to two decimal points they stated that the error bars are so large as to make the results to 1/100 meaningless. That may be but I think that cost also plays into it.

I vote for a retest at the original lab.

When I google-> psa blood test cost

I see amounts like $30 to $60.

Two standards exist for PSA Tests - Hybritech and WHO (World Health Organization) – exist for measuring PSA levels, and these standards do not produce equivalent results. Different labs may use different standards.

The < symbol is of no real consequence - you know what your number is and that is the important thing. Do you need a < to tell you that you're Clinically Undetectable?

Bobby Mac

Thanks for all the responses...I will have a retest next week at my usual lab and see what is going on..

Fairwind said...
The insurance company paid for the test, they got the results they wanted......You can ask for a PSA test without a prescription at any lab you want and are willing to pay for..There are many independent medical testing labs, most have offices available to walk-ins..I can get a complete blood work-up including PSA (CBC, CMP, PSA) for under $100...

This is not the case in every state. In NY, and about 4 or 5 other states, I beleive, you need a prescription for blood tests or imaging tests.

Since my false positive, I've never done, nor will I ever do, a PSA test at Quest. I do other blood work there, which may not make sense, but it's less critical to me. Just not worth the potential anxiety. There's enough of that associated with PSA testing as it is. I'm sure 99% of there tests of all kinds are accurate. But I'd rather have PSA done at my Drs lab, where he sees it before I do and if something is weird, he asks for a retest of the same blood

Post Edited (Pratoman) : 7/31/2016 9:30:16 AM (GMT-6)

So much for Quest.  My original lab came back with my usuasl score of <0.03

I will never go there again...

Thanks for all the support....

Great news.

I feel very anxious when I read that some of the posted upset about psa at less than 0.03 when I have never had one below 0.2 after 18 months of lupron and 45 days of IMRT. Is my cancer more aggressive not letting me near the zero mark is it my tester of lab core. Should I be happy with my psa or live in fear.

fly, as Gemlin said. Undetectable PSA is the goal of us surgery guys. As your docs should have explained to you, especially as a G8 who has been treated with HT and and IMRT, your PSA will reach a nadir (a low point) and then should stabilize. Your concern at that point becomes the definition of stable, and the question of, if it rises, at what point in the rise do you take further action?