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UPDATE- PSA, scans, etc

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Prostate Cancer
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Posted 10/8/2019 1:59 PM (GMT -5)
I finished radiation Oct 4 of 2018.
My primary care doc did a PSA on 3/5/2019. Result was 1.6, yay.
My urologist did a PSA last week and its 3.6, not yay.
They want to schedule a PET and bone scan.
This is a big concern.

Should I just get another PSA before the scans?

Comments are appreciated.

Post Edited (davemike) : 10/20/2019 10:08:01 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/8/2019 2:05 PM (GMT -5)
Bounces after radiation as primary treatment are fairly common and to be expected. I’m not sure about a bo8nce of this magnitude, so stay tuned as other guys more knowledgeable on this topic, will chime i
Posted 10/8/2019 2:13 PM (GMT -5)
If I am reading your signature correctly you had 5 positive cores, but all with very little involvement and all G6. Given that, the recent PSA increase is a surprise. You could be experiencing a radiation bounce, which is fairly typical, but a big one.

You do need more investigation. Could be a bounce, could be prostatitis, could be PCa, could be a bad test. Hard to believe that PCa growth from G6 would nearly double in just 6 months.

If you are on board with your uro, then follow the suggestion for some scans. If you are questioning, then get an opinion from another uro that specializes in PCa.

It is not too late to send the slides to Epstein or Bostwick. Maybe the original dx missed some high grade PCa. What type of radiation did you have? EBRT...brachytherapy....?
Posted 10/8/2019 2:20 PM (GMT -5)
"What type of radiation did you have?"

They installed gold markers and I had EBRT, 44 treatments.

I have had some blood in my semen, that is why I went to the uro last week. They told that was expected with radiation and did a blood draw for PSA.
Posted 10/8/2019 2:25 PM (GMT -5)
Retest the PSA to confirm before the scans. It could be a bounce or a bad lab result.

If confirmed you'll want the scans, but with your numbers, I find it hard to believe that it went this far up.
Posted 10/20/2019 11:16 AM (GMT -5)
Thanks for the replies!

I had another PSA blood draw done last Thursday at the uro. Had an appt with the radiation doc on Friday. The uro assured me the results would be to the radiation doc before my appt. Of course that didn't happen.The entire dealing with the uro has been an issue. Too much to cover here. I am looking to change to a different uro but the insurance has us using this one big practice. There are some good docs but the front of house staff, records people, etc are a mess.

So good news, my PSA from Thursday is 1.3. That looks good and in-line with the 1.6 from last spring. The 3.6 from 3 weeks ago were either a bad test, some other anomaly, or maybe someone elses result. The radiation guy is talking to the uro about checking into the mess. Anyway, I made my next appt for a PSA with the radiation guy, I don't need the worry of wondering if the uro staff is doing it right.
Posted 10/20/2019 2:33 PM (GMT -5)
Good news!

Likely it was an error in the test.
Posted 10/20/2019 5:07 PM (GMT -5)
Your Uro practice wouldn’t happen to be Tucson? The chaos seems very similar to the one I used. 😉 Glad I don't go there anymore, and it seems like you don't really need your Uro services anymore either.

Glad your PSA is back in a good spot. Good luck ahead!
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