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sgw
New User
Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:04 pm Post subject: increas PSA |
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| my PSA recently went from 1.3 to 1.7 is this cause for concern? should a prostate Bx be performed? i have a hx of transitional cell bladder CA and have had microwave therapy for BPH |
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Replicant
Moderator
Joined: 01 Nov 2006
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:25 pm Post subject: PSA |
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How long did it take for your PSA to rise? Was your digital rectal exam (DRE) normal? How old are you? How successful was your BPH treatment?
There's a urologist on this discussion board who can give you some information based on that information.
Another urologist, Patrick C. Walsh, in his book "Dr. Walsh's Guide to Prostate Cancer", on p. 164 says that if you have low PSA (between 1 and 4), "any increase is alarming." He cites the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, which found that increases greater than 0.2 to 0.4 ng/ml per year were "predictive of death from prostate cancer."
How your history of bladder cancer and BPH figure in, I have no idea. I'm just a layperson, so please don't take anything I say as the last word. My GUESS is that if you continue to see an upward trend in PSA, a biopsy is in order.
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Replicant
Dx Feb 2006, PSA 9 @age 43
RRP Apr 2006 - Gleason 3+4, T3a, N0M0, pos margins
PSA 5/06 <0.1, 8/06 0.2, 12/06 0.6, 1/07 0.7.
Salvage radiation (IMRT) total dose 70.2 Gy, Jan-Mar 2007@ age 44
PSA 6/07 0.1, 9/07 <0.1, 12/07 <0.1, 4/08 <0.1
http://pcabefore50.blogspot.com |
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brainman
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Oct 2005
Posts: 3442
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:48 pm Post subject: Re: increas PSA |
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sqw, I am very sorry about your history of cancer and current health concerns. I totally agree with Replicant. It sounds like the need for a biopsy really does depend on how fast your PSA has risen.
Has your doctor recommended a biopsy? He/she is in a better position to know if one would be appropriate than anyone on the Internet. Continue to work with your own medical team to try to make sure that you do not have prostate cancer or that if you do you find it early.
Best wishes.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/ |
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goruck
Experienced user
Joined: 22 May 2006
Posts: 51
Location: sarasota florida
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:07 pm Post subject: george rucker urology |
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replicant's questions are excellent.
In general, for my younger patients, repeating psa is the first step in obtaining an accurate psa measurement.
One thing I rarely see mentioned on this forum is the variability that exists with psa measurement which can be based on dehydration, stress levels, recent illness, and testing standard error of measurement.
In some ways, psa can be like a blood pressure reading for patients; i.e, there can be some flux and a basic average for the individual needs to be computed. Other folks will be rock stable over a period of 4 years. Quite perplexing for the non urologist.
George Rucker
Urology
Urologist
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George Rucker
Urology/Urologist
http://prostateconcerns.blogspot.com/
www.urology-partners.com
http://www.cornellurology.com/past-res.html
http://www.lakewoodranchmedicalcenter.com/index.php?&PageID=1088 |
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