I am in the same boat as many of you

Hello and welcome Pierre Petyot . Anyone who has prostate cancer watches their PSA like a hawk and we all worry when things start to look as if they are going in the wrong direction. There are 3 things to note here.

Different labs can produce different readings on the same sample.

The COVID vaccine can increase the PSA in men who still have a prostate. The body can produce testosterone in the adrenal and salivary glands as well plus some prostate material may have been left. There has been no analysis as far as I can find to evaluate the effect of COVID or the vaccine on men who have been treated for prostate cancer or on what the mechanism involved might be in full but I have found an article which indicates that there can be a sharp spike in PSA after infection in a man who has had a Prostatectomy so it is recommended that care should be taken with timing of PSA test. As the vaccine induces an immune response then I would presume the same increase could occur. In your case I would recommend repeating the PSA test in a couple of weeks time. This is the link to the paper.

https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/117/5/378/7560599

After the Prostatectomy the PSA should be undetectable but a trend upwards within a 6 month period, or a value of 0.2 are considered as a recurrence requiring further investigation. There is a body of thought which says that hitting a recurrence hard and fast can keep you on the curative pathway and this would involve a short time on HT plus radiotherapy or an ablative therapy in some form dependent on whether the site of the cancer can be located.

At the moment it is too early for you to know if the PSA rise is significant but please come back with the results once you have repeated the PSA in a couple of weeks time as it will help all of us with making the right choice as to timing vaccinations and PSA tests.

I hope this helps but please ask any questions.

Hello Petyot sounds like you are doing really well and you have got through the worst of it your fears are very understandable but there is every chance what you have had will do the job , keep going!

Hello Pierre (Petyot ), welcome to our group.  I assume that when you had the prostate removed the surgeon found clear margins and you didn’t have Radiotherapy?  If so, the likelihood is that the very slight increase in PSA is from an external source but I think you are doing the correct thing in getting checked again.  Don’t forget that Prostate Cancer (PCa) is a very slow growing form and you are only G4+4 so nothing needs to be done in a rush.  Please let us know how you get on with your next test.  David

Bonjour Pierre, as Always hope said: 

Alwayshope said:

Anyone who has prostate cancer watches their PSA like a hawk and we all worry when things start to look as if they are going in the wrong direction.

After my Radiotherapy I was told that as long as my PSA would stay under 2.0 I wouldn't require any further treatment.  My PSA went from 0.09 up to 0.3  Now it's back down to 0.19

I knew it would fluctuate, so I would not be concerned unless it was 2.0 or higher.

How is the Health Service in Canada?  Do you have any equivalent of the NHS?  Alwayshope seems to have a good system in Greece.

Bonjour Pierre (Petyot) 

Un accueueil chaleureux a The Macmillan Online Prostate Cancer Community from me too.

I see you have ad some great replies to your original post - let me just give you a link to Prostate Cancer UK's booklet "If your Prostate Cancer Comes Back"

https://shop.prostatecanceruk.org/pdf/publication/if-your-prostate-cancer-comes-back-a-guide-to-treatment-and-support-ifm.pdf

I hope reading this helps reduce your stress and it confirms that there is a great future ahead.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi David,

You are right, the margins were clear and I didn't have RT. Just active surveillance with a test every 3 or 4 month.

Pierre, do you get your PSA tests done through your GP?  In England some of us find that the GP don't want to perform thr PSA tests.

Hi Steve,

Health Service in Quebec is excellent. Free public service with a lot of ressources. For exemple, I still have access to a psychologist specialized in sexology for free even after 18 months after my surgery. It can be hard to see some specialists (urologist for exemple), but once your are in the system, we have access to very good doctors with good ressources.

No financial stress related to the disease as everything is free (well I know that nothing is "free" since we pay taxes who serves to offer free service to the population)

Steve,

Before I was diagnosed with cancer, my PSA tests were done once a year as part of an annual health check-up by my GP. Since my prostatectomy, it is the surgeon (or a doctor from his team) who monitors me and prescribes follow-up tests every 3 or 4 months.

Glad to hear that you have a great health service in Canada.  Can the NHS learn anything from Canada?