Variable PSA levels after surgery

[Guest guest]

Every now and then there are discussion about the

theoretical level of ultra-sensitive tests after surgery and when these should

trigger salvage therapy such as EBRT (External Beam Radiation Treatment) or ADT

(Androgen Deprivation Therapy).

There are many views on this matter and some of them

are illustrated in the latest update from Yana contributor Doug Harvey which

you can read at http://www.yananow.org/Mentors/DougH.htm

Briefly a rising PSA which hit 0.29 ng/ml triggered a decision by his medical

advisor that he should have EBRT He went for a second opinion at another

institution where they had differing criteria for commencing EBRT after

surgery.

He had a number of PSA tests during this process,

none of which agreed, but which had a range from 0.29 ng/ml to 0.03 ng/ml –

Oh! and his Gleason Score, which had been upgraded from 3+4=7 to 4+3=7 after

his surgery was downgraded back to 3+4=7 – that was good news, but his

post operative staging was also changed from pT2c to pT3a

This is anecdotal and dismissed by many for that

reason but I believe it illustrates a number of points, the main ones being the

lack of agreement between experts and the lack of accuracy in PSA tests.

All the best

Prostate men need enlightening, not frightening

Terry Herbert - diagnosed in 1996 and still going

strong

Read A Strange Place for unbiased information at http://www.yananow.org/StrangePlace/index.html