Anyone been on AS for a few years?

Hi. I've been on AS for 8 years with Gleason 6. 

I used to have Bupa and I saw several different consultants who offered me various treatments. However, I stuck with AS because I had a terrible experience with the biopsy and I am wary of any more intervention.

I'm on 6 monthly PSA and MRI every two years (next one due soon).

Best wishes 

Thanks David, I’m initially on 3 month psa, I have to say my TP biopsy was very uncomfortable too and sore for many days afterwards. It’s still early days for me but good to know AS is working for you, certainly a case of weighing up the risks of staying on AS vs the risks of radical treatment.

Hi dedward 

I think we have spoken before, the only puzzling thing here is the very low PSA which is unusual with any Gleeson 6+.

I reckon the most important thing here is to obviously keep an eye on the PSA but also note tumour size in mm and monitor over the years just in case PSA stays low but tumour size increases.

MRI yearly at least I would say but other than that all looks ok and u can now relax

Best wishes 

Steve 

Thanks Steve.

The low PSA puzzled me too so have been reseaching it today.  Apparently a low PSA with confirmed PC can be a sign of advanced high gleason cancer but coupled with a gleason 6 biopsy backed up by an MRI showing a small contained lesion it generally means the cancer has been detected very early before the PSA has started to rise.  Based on this, I guess AS does make some sense.

I have been on AS for 3 years, Gleason 3-4 but very low level of 4, just had my latest PSA result which was 3.79 so normal for my age, have had 3Tesla MRI’s which is the best type of MRI to have, with BUPA you should be able to get this done. The MRI show no visible tumor and my consultant even thinks it could have been a random pick up, plan to stay on AS as long as PSA is below 5.5, if it goes above this then will have another biopsy