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Very high PSA post surgery

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Posted 8/14/2014 9:08 PM (GMT -5)
Surgery was in August 2011. Pathology found some cells on the edge, and was given hormone therapy and
37 sessions of radiology. After the waiting period, my PSA was <.01. Stayed that way for about 2 years, than went to .2, and 3 months later to .4, and 3 months later to 2.5. Now it is 14.4! The lab was so sure that this was incorrect, they sent it to another lab that verified the result. This is higher than my PSA was before surgery! I haven't found any case where this has happened. I have an appointment with my oncologist in the morning. Also, my GP has sent my information to M.D. Anderson for a second opinion.
Please answer this soon.
Posted 8/14/2014 9:16 PM (GMT -5)
what was your exact pathology after surgery?

I'm sorry this is happening. Have you considered doing the test over?
Posted 8/14/2014 9:32 PM (GMT -5)
What a shocker to suddenly get that accelerating PSA. MD Anderson has some great people who can help you find out where the source is and what treatments can help. You should be working with a urologic oncologist rather than a GP, and there are some really good ones at MD Anderson, if that is accessible for you.

Have you had a bone scan and CT? That would be a reasonable next step that your oncologist will likely recommend to start. Perhaps more scans after that, depending upon what that shows or doesn't show.He'll probably advise you to wait till after the scans to restart on ADT because the ADT can hide things.

- Allen
Posted 8/14/2014 9:51 PM (GMT -5)
Hate to hear this news. For the record, you are not the only one. My PSA at surgery was 16.x. Surgery failed fast due to a positive margin. Year later, had SRT, 39 sessions, 72 gys. Radiation failed. As of December last year, PSA was 80.x, making it 5x higher than when I had surgery. Unlike you, I did not and still haven't had any HT, however, at my last PSA check (April ?), PSA had dropped on its own to 4x.x, we are not sure if that was a blip, or if it was an unexpected trend. Will know when its checked again in December.

Good luck to you, may be time to bring out the big guns now, and see if they can slow down things for you. I sincerely hope so.

David
Posted 8/14/2014 10:09 PM (GMT -5)
Purgatory, did I read that correctly? PSA of 80. My understanding is there cannot be PSA without prostatic
cells. I wish there was somewhere I could get some more information.
Skyhawkdriver.
Posted 8/14/2014 10:24 PM (GMT -5)
PSA, Prostate-Specific Antigen, does come from prostate cells - both healthy ones and cancerous ones. If the prostate is thoroughly removed, any rise in PSA must be due to cancerous prostate cells. Some cancerous cells put out a lot of PSA, some very little. Men with mets can sometimes have PSAs in the 1000s..

You may want to read the sticky:Newly diagnosed with PC? – read this thread first. Even though you're not newly diagnosed, it has a lot of the kind of information you may be looking for.

- Allen
Posted 8/14/2014 10:40 PM (GMT -5)
Skyhawk,

Yes, you did read that correctly. My pre-surgery PSA high was I believe accurately to be 16.3. My highest post SRT PSA was just above 80 (Eighty), as in 80.X, don't remember the last digit. Yet as high as that was, based on a PET/CAT scan I had done in February of this year, no visible mets were found. I believe it was the standard F-11 type MRI. Other MRI's since, and several other CAT scans, do not show any evidence of mets. However, my oncologist believes its a cases, where I have multiple micro met sites in my body (and no one knows where they are until they are big enough to be picked up in a scan), and each one is producing x amount of PSA, which collectively add up the high reading being reported.
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