Prostate cancer
Posted , 6 users are following.
My husband had his prostate removed four years ago and the cancer had got out of the Capsule by 1 mm. Every blood test since has come back with a zero PSA reading however the last one has risen to 0. 02. The urologist has said they can sometimes be a fluctuation in the PSA and to wait six months for the next blood test.
Can anyone tell me if this is a common occurrence with the PSA levels fluctuating .
Also if there is no prostate where does the PSA level come from
0 likes, 4 replies
Pepasan tanyacal111
Posted
I have no idea, but thank you for asking, as I'll be very interested in the answer!
Roger2Dodger tanyacal111
Posted
"PSA is very sensitive in detecting any recurrence of cancer. That's because only prostate cells make PSA -- so if it goes up after a radical prostatectomy, it means prostate cells are still present somewhere. For all intents and purposes, it means that a few cells escaped the prostate before it was removed, and now have grown to the point where they're producing enough PSA to be detected,
barney34567 tanyacal111
Posted
Roger is correct. If the prostate is removed and PSA rises then it is highly possible that cancer has spread. Prostate cells outside the prostate are generating them.
I think your husband could do worse than have a whole body PSMA PET CT scan which will reveal any cancer above a certain size that can be photographed in an image.
If the cancer does not reveal itself on a PSMA scan, then it's realistic to assume that is too small to image or that the cancer has spread microscopically from the prostate to a bone or elsewhere and continues to produce PSA.
patrick1952 tanyacal111
Posted