PSA testing

Hi Safeways 

Not sure if April was your last PSA but if it was then surprising as when u started the HT u would have thought they would have checked it to ensure the HT was working.

But not much point in doing one now in the middle RT, normally first done 3 or 6 months after RT finishes.

Also your PSA is not particularly high so give a bit more time.

Hope all goes well 

Steve

Hi Safeways .

Firstly, I hope the radiotherapy goes well. It can be useful to have a PSA test at the 3 month point after starting hormone therapy as this can confirm that it is actually working, plus the rate of the decline in PSA can be an indication of future prognosis. It can also set a benchmark for the start of radiotherapy so that the effectiveness of the RT and potential for a recurrence can be assessed by the rate at which the PSA further declined. These numbers are more important for men whose cancer is medium to high risk such as Gleason 8-10 and those who have a high initial PSA.

Different health authorities have different protocols.

The 6 weeks post RT allows for the PSA to settle down as it has been found that some men, particularly younger men, have a bounce up in it during initial treatment which it is proposed it is as a result of the cancer cells splitting open as they die and so more is released into the blood stream. This can cause anxiety so the 6 weeks is used once things should have settled down.

Do you mean you haven't had a PSA test since starting Radiotherapy (RT) or since starting Hormone Therapy (HT).  Usually you are tested, as I was, about 10 days before every HT injection to see how the HT was working.  Once on RT I didn't have a PSA test until 6 months after finishing and then every 6 months for 2 years as my PSA went down and stayed down.  Here we are nearly 9 years since I finished RT and it's still down.   sometimes PSA will go up a little after Rt is finished so about a year or so after RT has been completed your PSA should reach it's lowest point (nadir).