Prostate Cancer Survivors

 

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PSA RESULT

Got my 9 mth PSA test result came in at 0.04 my 3 mth & 6mth were 0.03 Urologist said nothing to worry about but cant help it,Would have preferred 0.03 also had a bone scan to ease my mind came back all clear so now i on have 8 weeks until my 12 mth surgery anniversary.

Re: PSA RESULT

Bob,

You know I'd like to see a test done where they took three blood samples 1 hour apart and sent them to the same lab for the ultra sensitive results. After working in high technology most of my life I would expect to see a small change in what would be considered the same testing sample. It only makes sense to me that a small change in test resluls would be normal. Of course I'm not a doctor, so this is only a personal opinion.

The Stranger

Re: PSA RESULT

Bob,
I think you are doing more harm than good by getting a bone scan. I don't think bone metastisis has ever been seen until the PSA is above 2.0.

Ultra-sensitive (less than .1) PSA numbers bounce around a lot. Terry has a write up about unusual PSA testing results although I think it is getting better with the newer equipment.

Re: PSA RESULT

Thank you Frank i had a bone scan for a couple of reasons 1st i never had one and for piece of mind as since surgery i woke from surgery 10 mth ago with bad shoulder pain.I was told it would go away buy it hasn't no one can tell me what it is.And i was worried about my PSA going up.How are you going i hope you are well pls stay in touch.
Bob

Re: PSA RESULT

Frank's note made me realise that perhaps I had neglected to check on the accuracy of my notes about the accuracy of the PSA test!

I would welcome any input on this subject, but from a brief search I have not found anything that indicates a significant improvement in results.

I did find some interesting studies though.

One deals with the problem of different results from different manufacturer's tests is set out below. This is a long standing problem and efforts to 'standardise' PSA assays were initiated in 1992 at the First Stanford Conference. There was some limited agreement then, but the debate still continues. What I didn't realise was just how many different assays there were. One study refers to 28 PSA assays from 22 manufacturers; another to 26 assays from 18 companies. And none of these assays consistently agree.

One study, published in 2007 says this in the published Abstract:

“……results from different assays are still not interchangeable, a situation that is only likely to improve once broad recommendations can be made about the most clinically relevant antibody combinations. Universal implementation of such recommendations would almost certainly improve between-method agreement substantially, provided careful attention were paid to assay design and use of appropriately pure secondary standards ensured.”

In my world, if no agreement has been reached in the 20 years since the first efforts were made, they’re not likely to be made in the near future.

Another study I came across was intended to “… determine the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) velocity, PSA slope, and PSA doubling time (PSADT) in men ….. and to use this information to improve the test characteristics in the early detection of prostate cancer and provide normal values for these parameters in screened men with and without evidence of prostate cancer.”

The study outcome was

The mean values of PSA velocity, PSA slope, and PSADT in a rescreened population differed significantly between men with and without prostate cancer. However, in predicting the biopsy outcome, the PSA dynamics were of limited value.

All the best

Terry in Australia

Re: PSA RESULT

Another study concerning PSA velocity was released yesterday. It is here Change In PSA Level Does Not Predict Prostate Cancer

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