PSA levels during chemo

Helllo Anna Anna42 

Thanks for your post - don't forget I am not medically qualified but my understanding is:

* The ideal PSA after Hormone Therapy and Chemotherapy is less than 0.1 or undetectable.

* However he still has a Prostate and there are a couple of other sources of PSA in the body, so you can expect a small amount of PSA.

* Yes a UTI can affect the PSA readings.

* The nadir or lowest PSA reading can be expected 18 months after treatment started. 

I was on Hormone therapy alone and started off with a PSA of 182 - it took me 2.5 years to get down to 0.29 so 4 months to get down from 186 to 0.31 if you pardon my French is "bloody fantastic".

The treatments - particularly Hormone Therapy keep on working long after they have been introduced into the body so I think his reduction to date is great.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes - Brian.

Anna, that is an amazing PSA drop of 99.83%. The PSA can fluctuate during chemotherapy as the cells die and break open thus releasing more into the blood. The PSA can continue to go down after chemotherapy has finished but more importantly so can the size of the primary and metastatic lesions during the weeks and months following on from it. The aim is to get below 0.1 and yes the UTI can cause an increase in PSA.

Any kind of infection during chemotherapy needs to be reported to the experts and they can decide whether it is safe to have the next cycle or if any extra support is needed.

Thanks both, needed to hear that tonight! Figures crossed the PSA keeps going down… thanks @alwayshope - we caught a UTI early by checking in with the chemo helpline and heading to A&E. It was a stressful week last week, but hopefully all back on track now. We just haven’t had that “break” between cycles really, as my husband is only just over the infection - but good in some ways it isn’t causing any delay in cycles xxx

Just think, you are almost 2/3 of the way through chemotherapy so doing great. I know we all want to see a negligible PSA but you have already surpassed many targets. Following the PSA kinetics everything is textbook at the moment with the rapid initial drop on the hormone therapy and now a steadier decline which should continue for many months. Keep us updated on progress.