When Annual PSA Test

It has been approx 19 Month since my RP I am currently on 6 monthly  PSA testing

so far all undetectable.When if ever do I get moved to Annual testing or do I stay on

6 month tests.

English Rodger.

Sephie

Thanks it would be great to go on annually testing it just gives you a break from the worry.

I remember when I was moved from 3 months to 6 it was grate it really makes a difference.

And also I'm a Gleason 7 not 4 I wish I was a 4 but so far so good PSA stable at 0.04 after 18 mths

I can never understand why some of us are 0.04 and like your husband 0.02 I wish someone

could explain it to me why some are lower but my urologist said my 0.04 is great but I would swap

with you hubby.

English Rodger.

 

Roger, sorry if my reference to Gleason 4 wasn't clear. Since it is the first number shown in your Gleason score, that means that the majority of cancer is a Gleason 4. There are two Gleason numbers assigned, and then there's the Gleason score, which in your case is a 7. My husband is also a 7 but a 3+4, meaning that the majority of his cancer (not by much) was a Gleason 3. As it turned out, 40% of the cancer was assigned a Gleason number of 4 so he was close there. Hope this clarifies my earlier post.

Sephie.

Thank you for taking the time to explain I'm still new at this dreadful PC.

But after thinking how great it would be to be on annual tests I have

changed my mind after receiving the other post & thinking 12 month's

is a long time to find out how things are going.I think I will go on 12 mth

tests when the urologist suggests it but at 6 mth I will go my local GP.

After all if my PSA starts to rise I would rather know @ 6 mth than 12.

Once again thank you for taking the time hope every thing continues

to goes great for you both.

English Rodger.

Roger Welcome

I don't think you need to worry about the difference between one person being 0.04 and another being 0.02. My uro doesn't even test to that level off accuracy. What he/they want to see is a PSA that goes below 0.1 and stays there. And they reckon that there will always be a degree of fluctuation at low numbers, and that this may cause patients to worry unnecessarily. And they are not going to start thinking about additional treatment until there is a much bigger rise to say 0.4 as was the case with me.
And you'll never get a true zero. If I understand it correctly PSA in very small quantities would even get produced if you removed the prostate from a guy without PCa. (And PSA has even been detected in women's blood!)
Thus "undetectable" is not the best word for labs to use.

My doc switched from 3 monthly tests to tests every 5 months after I had had a year of stable test results. (They did not give a reason why 5 and not 6 monthly). Anxiety about test results will still happen even when you get tested once a year so perhaps tackling the anxiety aspect might help too, though we all suffer from PSA anxiety as far as I know. My docs are very keen to ask how I am feeling and coping as well as just checking the numbers are okay.

Several guys here have switched labs or had blood tested by two labs at the same time and received different results. My doc insists that all my PSA tests are done by their lab so provide maximum continuity, even though this means spending half a day travelling to Amsterdam and back rather than having a 5 minute walk to the hospital where I live.

Best wishes
English Alf

Welcome to the group Roger,
For me, it was every three months for the first year. Every six months for the next four years. If everything is still A-OK after five years I'll go to an annual PSA test. Good luck.

Roger, I'm in my third year post-surgery. I'm sorry if I was a little confusing in my previous post. Best of luck in your search.

My urologist's schedule is: 1st Year, every 3 months; 2nd year, every 6 months; annually thereafter.