Hi Lino:  Had radical prostatectomy in May this year.  Had a positive
margin but the last two PSA levels were "undetectable."  I don't think
that a positive margin is a certainty for disease spread.  I am trying
to maintain that attitude.  Should it indeed cause further disease I
will just have to deal with it.  I do not regret the surgical
procedure, I do regret not having paid attention earlier to the rising
PSA.  I had five or six years of rising PSA and both my doctor and I
ignored it.  When I changed doctors my current doctor was the one who
got things moving.  We will just have to see what happens.

The E-mail address that appears with this post is not real.  I do this
to prevent spam attacks.

Chuck H.

A positive margin occurs when there is cancer appearing right at the
edge of the specimen.  When the doctor removes the prostate it is sent
to a pathologist who examines it under a microscope and looks for
cancer at the edge.  If there is some there, it's a positive margin.
The consequences of course are that there quite possibly was some
cancer left inside the patient which can spread and affect the
ultimate outcome.  These positive margins can result from either a
tumor growing right up to the cut edge, or from the surgeon cutting
through a tumor that extended into surrounding tissues.  Subsequent
radiation treatment is used if there is a rise in PSA.  Not all
positive margins, in fact about 70% with a Gleason 6, do not result in
a recurrence and no further treatment is needed.  That's the exact
position I'm in and my first post-op PSA was <0.1.  Good luck with
your surgery.
 Dave Perry

My hubby had RRP June 23 and had positive margins. Not what we wanted to
hear, but so far he's had 2 undetectable psa tests. We figure that having
positive margins just makes those pesky psa tests that much more
anxiety-inducing than without positive margins. It also means we celebrate a
whole lot every 3 months. We've got a lot of champagne chilling in
anticipation of a lifetime of undectables. We've also talked to 2 urologists
who both said they will only do radiation if his psa goes up as most
positive margins with  Gleason 6 never have a reoccurrence. Make some happy
memories now and know that the buildup to surgery is usually far worse than
the reality.

As you can see by my numbers below, I had that problem.  Radiation can cure
it after recurrence.  Or, as in my case, a little more treatment may be
required.  But, why worry about what might be?