Making sense of PSA

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Hi - my OH has stage 4 PC. Last year after a 12 month delay for treatment he started HT had chemo and 20 sessions of RT.

Post chemo scan showed no evidence of disease- not even bone scaring from the oligometastatic suspicious areas.

Post PSA was <0.1- our lab doesn’t go lower apparently. He was told this was classed as undetectable- same result 3 months later and agin recently. What’s puzzling me is that the results have been <0.1 yet his recent letter says ‘satisfactory’ rather than undetectable.

Next bloods January. Is this change in words anything to worry about would you think.

sorry but I’m just having one of those worrying and doubting days.

thank you all x

  • Hello  .

    This is an excellent result and <0.1 is the same in any language as being undetectable. It could be that the test was done by a different laboratory or technician who report it in another way. No I don't think it is anything to worry about.

  • Hi Hanandy !

    Like Alwayshope says; a <0.1 is considered ’undetectable’ PSA level. I’m a prostate cancer patient living in Sweden and both in Sweden (and Finland) they only measure down to <0.1 and it’s considered undetectable.

    So, congratulations for a fantastic respons and relax and enjoy that the cancer is in full remission and hopefully stays that way for a very long time Slight smile

    Best wishes - Ulf

    • Thank you so much. x
  • Hi  and what a great result. Your OH has obviously responded well to RT and HT and he is cured or in remission (I am not medically trained but this is my understanding).  As you no doubt know, once PCa has been detected and treated, minute patches can lay dormant and undetected for years before popping up again.  If the PCa was confined to within the prostate then the chances of a cure are higher than if it has already been detected outside.  In my own case I wasn’t expecting a cure and sure enough after 4 years up it popped, but is still treatable and hopefully for years to come.  Best wishes, David