Low PSA Value

Hi Caster, my husbands PSA  was 3.02 also, he is Stage 4 and Gleason 9,  and agree that they should not be relying on PSA, as it is costing the lives of men who would be otherwise curable.   

When diagnosis and treatment plan was discussed with the oncologist we asked that very question, how will we know if treatment is working if PSA  non secreting and would he get scans instead, the reply was that it will still drop from 3 and no scans would be done until 6 weeks after chemo finishes.  The last scans my husband had was in April and he got the diagnosis in May, it’s a very long time from those scans until the next scans, his chemo end’s Christmas and scans possibly end January beginning of February.  they have taken his PSA once since treatment started and it dropped to 0.18 so at least we feel something is happening 

very best wishes 

Hi castor 

Psa on its own doesn't mean very much unless it's after treatment which is what it was developed for.

PSA rising after treatment indicates cancer may have returned.

If you're on hormones  then PSA can be artificially low.

PSA before treatment always needs a scan to really see what's going on , yes u can have a low PSA with cancer but not that common

Steve 

Hi Inc,

Am sorry I took so long to reply and yes, I was also told that it is still useful because it will fall further after treatment. The good news is that your husbands value has dropped so low so something is working. Hope it will continue with good results s a Xmas present.

Thanks for your comments Steve. You are right in that the real value of SPA is in its velocity rather than its actual value. This is all new to me, and I was surprised to be told that I had a cancer with gleeson 7 (4+3) with a PSA below 4. I hope that after a few months of Firmagon it will get close to zero

Hi Castor, I think you're right about the velocity of the psa score being important rather than just focusing on the number itself.  

I was tested age 48 with a score of 3.3. Within a few weeks it had risen to 4.8. Also been given a 4+3 gleeson score. Got a stage 3c diagnosis but I'm heading for surgery in a couple of weeks. 

Hi dmh,

I am really sorry to hear that you are going into surgery and I want to wish you all the best.

I was also diagnosed with gleeson7(4+3) with the cancer having spread into the exit of my bladder. Now I am getting ready for hormone treatment with Fermagon and with radiotherapy but I am really scared of tall the negatives. Fortunately they checked me out and nothing on the bones or the lymphs.

Hi Castor as nervous as I am about having the surgery (and the associated side effects!) I'll be relieved to be at least making progress towards being free from the cancer. 

I actually feel incredibly lucky to have caught this early and it's my much better half I have to thank for that. If she hadn't encouraged me to go for a psa test I wouldn't have bothered until it was much further down the line. 

Hope all goes well with your treatment and I find (for me anyway) it's much better to focus on the positives of something rather than the negatives

For all the downsides to treatment or surgery, I just think we're incredibly lucky to live in a country where we have these things available to us. An awful lot of people on this planet of ours would have nothing like the options we have and we should all be very grateful for that. 

That is right. So much to feel lucky for. So important to have faith and to think positively. So much to be grateful for. dmh guess you would be bound to feel nervous, no matter what you learn and what people say beforehand. What I would say is that the whole process and procedure was however only a very small fraction of how bad I thought it would be. Six weeks down the line, I have the side effects but I have been told the op was successful and I am so glad and relieved  I had the op. Here is to your op and a steady recovery.

It's great to hear your op was successful and very reassuring about the actual procedure. The nurse we met said the biopsy was far worse than the operation! 

You know, for me, thinking about it, the biopsy was probably worse than the operation. Firstly I was very embarrassed having two young female nurses present (I am very conservative regarding my private parts), then there was the unknown - waiting for the promised loud click, would it hurt or would it not? would the Consultant take the biopsy from the correct place or somewhere else in error and cause problems - then doing my best to relax each of the numerous times the Consultant told me that I needed to and I thought from the tone of his voice that he was getting frustrated or maybe even cross, then the loud click - ok, not a nice experience but not what I would call painful - I did think thank goodness that is over - and then to my complete surprise another loud click (I in my naivity thinking there would only be one biopsy sample) - and then another, and then another until they were all done. Thankfully at last getting off the chair and finding my legs were trembling. Then finding I discharged blood - a bit frightning even though I was told it would happen. The op wasn't a walk in the park but it was nowhere near as bad I thought it would be.