That is a good question Vernon.  I do not have the answer, but I think that
the PSA can get up in the thousands.  That is obviously not good, but the
person is still alive.

Do you remember the actor from Law and Order that recently died?  He had
just signed a contract to move to a different version of the show and the
next thing we read he is dead.  I often wonder what happened to cause his
death that quickly, when it would appear that he was still in good enough
health to be making plans for a new series?

My husbands was 865 on diagnosis at age 40. mets to bone and lymph. He was
probably months from death at the time. His lowest was 17 and his 2nd to
most recent (don't know last one yet) was 367. He is still working and
laying flooring and running a business. Of course, he is Superman but he is
in a lot of pain and his body is starting to give out.

Hi Guys

Thanks ButterCup's dad and Lorelei.

I just came across a very provocative article, written by a PCa survivor who
seems to have done his homework, that bears reading.

http://www.cancer.prostate-help.org/cahtct.htm

In it he cites PSA numbers from 5.1 to 4254, and the scientific references.
It is an older article, written in 2002.    However, I do hope the some of
us might have more recent data.

Best wishes.

Vernon

Hi Guys
There has been a lot of discussion about the significance of the rising
PSA numbers in the cases of guys who have had RRP or SI/EBRT.   Some
people seem to panic when the PSA number rises from 0.1 to 0.2, or even
less. However, does anyone have an idea of the PSA number of guys that
have died from PCa?   Is it 200, 500, or what?   Is there a
"terminal" number?   One which could be used as a signal of impending
death from PCa?
Best wishes.
Vernon
========

hi vernon - i opted to answer this post to bring certain things to
light.  just as one knows, pca is NOT a one size fits all answer.

why is it that two persons with the same stage and psa level of pca - go
to the same hospital, same staff, etc, etc and the outcome will be
different?  

the same is true as to how the body responds to pca as well to how the
body responds to treatment.  we all know people who had the sweats, hot
flashes, etc while on HT, while others do not.

so, why should it not surprise anyone that the answer for psa at time of
death be any different?

we know of a previous poster who had psa of 8,000 and still alive at the
time, and one of around 5,000, just to throw numbers on the table.  and
yet, when martin howard wrote the last time his psa was under 400.

my dad died FROM pca with a psa under 100.

he had ask his uro about the same type of nature as this post and the
high numbers and his uro made the comment that he has patients with psa
in the thousands.  

what it boils down to is this.  it depends on WHERE the prostate goes to
in the body and how SENSITIVE the body is to need that organ to
function.   for example, if the pca went to the lungs, well, we have TWO
lungs and an individual has been known to function on one,  whereas, if
pca went to the liver, we only have ONE of those and we need it in order
to survive.

pca getting in the back bones cause us a lot of pain but will not kill
you. pca getting into the marrow will.

pca is an indicator of what is going on in the body.

vernon made the comment - Some people seem to panic when the PSA number
rises from 0.1 to 0.2, or even less.

now, this is mixing apples and oranges.  advanced pca that has escaped
out of the prostate gland is different that having the prostate removed
and you get a rise in psa.  why?  because the pca in free and loose
inside the body -hopefully in the prostate bed where we can radiate it,
but it is also an easy access to the lymph nodes.  adding to this,  for
future reference, if a person who has an RP has a .2 of a rise each
month for a period of 5 years will be in the final stages of prostate
cancer.   which is a lot lower psa number that has been discussed here.

so, you see, it's not a one size fits all answer and i've just scratched
the surface, it goes much deeper than what a few paragraphs here.  

i have found that the more i research this, the more information i find
and i'm surprised that it's not in a center location - although we have
websites that have a lot of information.

the vital key to staying alive and increasing life with pca is to keep
the psa from rising.   if a person has a person of 200, and it is 200
the next month, and the next month.  the cancer is still growing, but it
isn't getting any extra help by a higher psa.  that's the point.

hope this will shed some light on the topic of psa numbers.

this is why i want to wish everyone low psa's  :))

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc

  If you're looking for a countdown to death number, I don't think it works
that way. You can have lots of tumors in your extemities, which would yield
a high PSA, but you can still live for many years. All you need is a very
small tumor in a vital organ, which may yield a small PSA, that will kill
you very quickly.

I can't add much to the good replies already given except to
say that some people have high PSA numbers without even
experiencing symptoms.  A friend of mine had a PSA of 300
that went to 500 before hormone therapy and never experienced
any subjective problem at all.  No bone pain, tiredness or
any other subjective symptom.

   Alan

Most people who we have seen in this NG and who have died came in with very
high PSAs and had much lower PSAs when they died.  The highest I've seen is
William243's PSA when he was diagnosed in 2000.  He was still alive a year
ago with a 4.03 PSA.

Berky had a 1614 at diagnosis and left the group six years later at 133.  He
died a few months after that.

Robert Young came in with a 1000 and went down, but went up and died 2½
years later.

Conversely, Martin Howard came in with a 145, disdained treatment and died a
year later with an 857.

So, to answer your question, PSA is a good indicator of problems with your
prostate.  Once diagnosed with cancer, it is a good indicator of cancer
behavior.  However, there is not terminal PSA level, per se.