High PSA

Don't panic, does not mean you have cancer. There are many other things that can raise psa.

Hi Curly,

How old are you? Also do you know if you have an enlarged prostate?

A sudden rise from a low value to a high value could be caused by a few things:

1. Did you ejaculate within 48 hours of your PSA test as this can elevate your value a lot?
2. Did you due any strenuous activities like heavy lifting or riding a bike?
3. Bowel irritations from spicey foods or loose stools
4. You should check on the internet on activities that can elevate PSA values.

It is also important to know that single values of PSA do not mean much. It is the trend over time that matters. So your doctor might want to test your PSA every 3 months and then chart it up and see what the trend is.

There is also a simple urine DNA test that uses your urine to check for the possibility of prostate cancer. Many urologists at the first sign of an elevated PSA want to do biopsies. Please resist that if you can as biopsies are very invasive and cause many problems. I likely got prostatitis from an unnecessary biopsy years ago whcij I believe triggered my BPH. Biopsies are only warranted if there is a specific target that the doctor is trying to biopsy. These can show up in simple ultrasounds or an MRI.

Good lcuk and don't worry.

Howard

Jim is right , it doesnt mean you have cancer .

Curly...Usually a simple DRE (digital rectal exam) can reveal any hard points in a prostate gland. I've gone thru this kind of thing before and it is most always a** NON** Ca situation.

I can remember my Uro bringing me into his inter office, telling me my PSA..was higher. In the end, after a Biop I did NOT have anything more than an enlarged prostate that was producing a higher PSA.

Also a simple infection in that area will raise the number very quickly..So it going to be OK..I know the Uro's next suggestion is going to be to Biop the prostate..With the new techniques available today I might get a second.

Take care

Curly,

PSA 6.0 is not that high, albeit it's higher than cutoff of 4,0. It depends on how old are you what is the size of your prostate, do you have a prostotitis, or even did you have sex yesterday. PSA mean almost nothing in todays diagnostics of PC/ So don't panic, it's not high enough to panic. Even PC today mean nothing. 95% of them grow very slowly and besides making rich your URO surgeon, will make no harm to you. Watchful waiting is the latest medical advise. 90% of Prostate surgeries can and should be avoided. Of course the high speed (5.5 ng/mL per year) of your PSA change deserves attention but most likely it's an inflammation rather than an aggressive cancer, which are relatively rare.

you need to have th e test again it can be effected by many extraneous things like having sex or masturbating the day before the test.

don't stress yet. Your urologists will want to get a repeat test in a few days or a couple of weeks before doing a biopsy.

Curly,

In May 2018 I had a UTI and took Cipro for it. I also had a Urodynamics test done where they inserted and removed 5 catheters. Three days after the Urodynamics test I a had a PSA test done. It showed 26, when less than a year earlier it was 2.8. The Urologist said that taking an antibiotic can raise your PSA, but of course a UTI, will also raise it. The catheters used for the Urodynamics test also helped raise it. About 4 months later I had another PSA test which came out at 6, but I am also self cathing which raises it a little. Anything you do that disturbs the prostate will raise it, like riding a bike or sex or prostate massage. It will usually stay raised for a few days to a week.

If you find out you need a biopsy, there are better options now days, that the multi needle biopsy. The mp-3TMRI can show cancer lesions in the prostate. And a single needle can be guided to a particular lesion by mp-3TMRI, (Multi Parametric 3 Tesla MRI).

Thomas

I agree with you. I will never have a biopsy without having a 3T-MRI which will indicate any areas of concern so the biopsy is targeted. Without this scan the biopsy is a shot in the dark.

I can tell you what I would do and why.

First before I went to a Urologist, I would take another more conclusive, more accurate, straight to the point approach.

Let me first tell you why. Urologists will first preform the DRE and tell you that your gland feels large.

Second they will recommend a biopsy. Due to the PSA number. They will typically want to do a 12 needle biopsy removing tissue from the gland and send to the lab. But in fact this type of biopsy is weak as it only can possibly cover and area that is 60% of the gland leaving the 40% side untested. It is very random. Has numerous false positive results but is still loved by urology.

Why? Well it is done in office. It takes about ten minutes to administer and more than 1,300,000 of these procedures were done last year at an average cost of $1,100 nationally. Do the math, this is almost a billion and a half $1,500,000,000 revenue stream. Many men have had these done several times over there lives. It is painful in a lot of cases, is usually bloody and heals in about a six week period. It is typically inefficient but a BIG money maker.

It is the protocol "du jour" of the Urological doctors. And they usually will not tell you of the options you have that are better for you and conclusive in performance because they can't make money from them. Yes, I know it is sad to think this goes on but it really does.

I would first calm down. It is not likely you have cancer. Your psa number is most likely a results of a math calculation using the density and the volume size of the gland and in most cases you are in fact a normal reading depending on this calculation. My gland was 125cc with a low density number and my 7+ PSA was calculated and considered normal. With this large prostate I did however have BPH.

The best Answer is to Get a 3 T MRI preferably by someone using a Siemens Skyra MRI machine. Have it ordered with contrast and non contrast pictures. Then you should send to an Interventional Radiologist who specializes in Prostate Glands and they can look at the film and conclusively tell you if you have cancer. No needles , no healing, no issues. If you want the name and contact of who I used and who will look at your films and not charge you to do so, I will give you the information if you personal message me. Their web site has a portal that you use to send your cd information by just hitting a button. They are in Houston at MD Anderson aea and they will not charge to do this. I will provide the website and you can look it up then call them.

Just slow down. I told you what the urologist on Monday will say but you should research all the directions you should go because there is a better way. Let me know if I can help.

I appreciate this discussion and all the good advice given here.

A couple of months ago my GP told me my PSA level was about a 9. It was up from 5 about a year earlier when it was checked. He gave me a round of Cipro to see if that would bring it down and told me that if it did not, the next step was a biopsy. He said that when the PSA number gets to around 10 that they (doctors I guess) begin to worry about it spreading to other organs.

Followup after the 2 weeks of Cipro showed that it had brought my PSA level down about 2 points to 7. He wanted to have me do another blood test in about a month to see what was happening. I haven't made that appointment yet and I don't know how important it is. I had no other symptoms of a UTI. I know what that feels like because I had prostatitis about 1 1/2 yrs earlier. Upset stomach, burning when peeing, etc. So I was reluctant to take the a/b again with no symptoms but he threatened me with the biopsy thing. I'll be 67 in December so this has been weighing on my mind that I'm letting something go that I really should check on. One nice thing about medicare is you can use it with about any doctor. I think I need to find a different one.

My PSA went from 3 to 11. The biopsy (which was unpleasant but not painful and had no after-effects) revealed prostatitis. A big relief needless to say.