Hormone and radiotherapy and blood tests

Hi.

I finished my 20 sessions of RT on 30 October, my first blood test is on 23rd December with results by phone 6th January 25.  Apparently it takes that long to gauge the effectiveness of the RT on your PSA. 

Best wishes,  Peter 

 Safeways I think it is fairly normal to wait 6+ weeks.  I think from now on you need to ask at each meeting and phone call, what happens next, who organises it and how do they know.  I also think you need to get the name of your cancer nurse specialist who can help you through the bureaucracy.  Good luck with the remainder of your RT, David

Hi !

Checking PSA during and directly after radiation gives you no real picture on the efficacy of the radiation treatment. Radiation causes damage on cellular levels, inflammation and etc. in the prostate. Weakening and killing of prostate cancer cells with radiation is also a process that takes time; weeks and months. So, normally you check 3 months after radiation and then tests in 3 month intervalls at least the first year after radiation.

So, the short answer is that, it’s normal procedure to wait for x amount of time to test PSA after radiation and then to do that on a regular basis to be able to see a trend of the efficacy of the treatment.

Many thanks for the info, our hospital does seem to be lacking in communicating our progress during and after treatment, it is very very busy being the only Hospital providing the treatment in Highland Scotland which maybe the real problem, otherwise I cannot fault them for their care and treatment.