 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Prostate Cancer / April 2006free psa %
i am 67 years old and for 6 years my psa was stable at around 6.7. i had had biopsies 6 and 7 years ago and no cancer showed up. within the last month my psa jumped to 8.5 and, on retesting 8.8 with a free psa of 19.3%. i'm now scheduled for a biopsy in may. my urologist has placed the odds at about 30% chance of cancer but dancing around the internet it seems as if there are mixed messages about these free psa readings. can anyone shed some light on the true meaning of this combination of results? many thanks jay Jay...Do you know the approximate size of your prostate from past biopsies? Where abouts do you live? If you're near a color-doppler ultrasound expert, a targeted biopsy might be the way to go. Do you also suffer from BPH? If your prostate were around 80-100cc in size, all of your PSA could be produced from healthy tissue. Free PSA>25% is often indicative of a non-cancerous condition, while fPSA<15% is somewhat suggestive of prostate cancer; the 15-25% range is a bit of a gray area, but there are no hard and fast rules or numbers for this...Ron ron thanks so much for your reply. as my biopsy was 7 years ago i really don't know the size of my prostate. we live in the san francisco area and use kaiser. that is where my next biopsy will take place. they do use ultrasound but i'm not sure about the color-doppler aspect. i do know that the technology for biopsy has changed radically in the past 7 years and i think kaiser is pretty current. a good friend is going to costa rica next week to have ultrasound treatment for his prostate cancer. cheers jay Jay...There are 2 top-notch ultrasonographers in your neck of the woods, one is in your backyard. They are: Duke K. Bahn MD Medical Director, Department of Radiology Prostate Institute of America Community Memorial Hospital of San Buenaventura 168 N. Brent Street, Suite 402 Ventura, CA 93003 888-234-0004 805-585-3082 Fax: 805-641-3965 dkbahn@cmhhospital.org Katsuto Shinohara MD 1600 Divisadero Street, 3rd floor UCSF San Francisco, CA 94115 Tel:415-476-1611 Fax:415-476-8849 kshinohara@urol.ucsf.edu Assistant, Mary, at 415 353 9877 Bahn uses the color-doppler and Shinohara uses MRI (with a 3T magnet) with spectroscopy. Both techniques allow you to see the entire prostate and even probe for extracapsular extension. If they see something, they do a targeted biopsy, otherwise they usually just give you a clean bill of health and skip the biopsy. With the standard ultrasound-guided biopsy it is harder to visualize the prostate than with color-doppler or MRI. In fact, certain areas of the prostate that can contain cancer are not normally targeted in the standard 12 core ultrasound-guided biopsy. So particularly if you have a large prostate and have had previous negative biopsies, it might be an option woth considering, to step up to these more sensitive methods. Also if there is any breast or prostate cancer in your family, this would be another reason to have an expert involved at this time. BTW, I'm assuming your DREs have been negative...Best wishes and good health, Ron ron this is very helpful. however, i don't know what a dre is. i think i'll try to track down shinohara on monday (we're far, far away from bahn and ventura). i believe kaiser offers the standard 12 core. i don't know what the cost of the mri might be but it is certainly worth checking out. i'm a very healthy, athletic and sexually active guy of 67 so there is an awful lot at stake for me here. i may have mentioned that a good friend of mine is headed to costa rica thursday for ultrasound treatment of his pca. seems like a resonable alternative if a low gleason cancer turns up. j > ron > this is very helpful. however, i don't know what a dre is. i think i'll A DRE is a digital rectal exam. It is just the doctor sticking his finger in your butt and feeling your prostate to see if it is normal. > checking out. i'm a very healthy, athletic and sexually active guy of > 67 so there is an awful lot at stake for me here. i may have mentioned > that a good friend of mine is headed to costa rica thursday for > ultrasound treatment of his pca. seems like a resonable alternative if > a low gleason cancer turns up. There is a lot at stake. You should be getting all your medical reports as they are created, and keeping them. So that, for instance, if you want to know the size of your prostate, you can look at the ultrasound from that earlier biopsy. You might need to know if your prostate is larger now, for instance. Saves a lot of time at the next doctor, also. > ron > this is very helpful. however, i don't know what a dre is. i think i'll [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > a low gleason cancer turns up. > j Unless you have done a lot of research on the topic, Jay, you should not yet be considering one treatment over another. There are many treatments and several side effects for each. At your age and condition, all of the treatments are in play. Some have a track record on which you may rely; some do not. Please be careful in how you choose.  SignaturePSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46 Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c RRP 12/15/2000 G7 (3+4), T3cN0M0 Neg margins PSA .1 .1 .1 .27 .37 .75 EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47 PSA .34 .22 .15 .21 .32 Lupron 07/03 (1 mo) 8/03 (4 mo), 12/03, 4/04, 09/04, 01/05, 5/05, 10/05, 2/06 PSA .07 .05 .06 .09 .08 .132 Non Illegitimi Carborundum > Jay...There are 2 top-notch ultrasonographers in your neck of the > woods, one is in your backyard. They are: [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > reason to have an expert involved at this time. BTW, I'm assuming your > DREs have been negative...Best wishes and good health, Ron The MRSI is best done before any biopsies Spoke to my urologist today to ask if a mri with spectroscopy would be advisable prior to a decision on a biopsy (I had called dr. shinohara's office at ucsf, an expert in this area, but have not received a callback yet). My guy at kaiser said the mri is only used for people already diagnosed with cancer and would not be a sibstitute for a biopsy. Does this ring true? ron Spoke to my urologist today to ask if a mri with spectroscopy would be advisable prior to a decision on a biopsy (I had called dr. shinohara's office at ucsf, an expert in this area, but have not received a callback yet). My guy at kaiser said the mri is only used for people already diagnosed with cancer and would not be a sibstitute for a biopsy. Does this ring true? jay Jay...Your uro's view does ring true in the following sense. An MRI or color-doppler ultrasound, will reveal any areas suspicious for PCa within the prostate. If suspicious areas are identified than a targeted (rather than random) biopsy can be performed as a next step. If no suspicious areas are seen, then a biopsy is not recommended. At least that's how Dr. Fred Lee plays it out. So the MRI or cdus can be viewed as another information gathering step prior to a biopsy. This information would allow you and your doc to make a more informed decision on the need for a biopsy, and, if you decide to proceed with a biopsy, increase the odds that it will be meaningful...Ron ron i can't tell you how much i appreciate your input. this is using the internet tool at its best. friday off to new york for some r and r and will carry on when i return. cheers jay That's a fairly high PSA, Jay, but if your normal PSA is 6 to 7, it just might be that that is what your prostate produces. The freePSA was a good choice, but unfortunately put you right in no man's land. If it had been over 25% you're good. Under 15%, not good. But 19.3%? Nobody knows. SignaturePSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46 Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c RRP 12/15/2000 G7 (3+4), T3cN0M0 Neg margins PSA .1 .1 .1 .27 .37 .75 EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47 PSA .34 .22 .15 .21 .32 Lupron 07/03 (1 mo) 8/03 (4 mo), 12/03, 4/04, 09/04, 01/05, 5/05, 10/05, 2/06 PSA .07 .05 .06 .09 .08 .132 Non Illegitimi Carborundum >i am 67 years old and for 6 years my psa was stable at around 6.7. i > had had biopsies 6 and 7 years ago and no cancer showed up. within the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > many thanks > jay |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.