While you’re on active surveillance, beyond just PSA and Gleason, also track your % Free PSA, PSA Doubling Time, PSA Velocity, and PSA Density, as well as getting biomarker (genomic) and genetic (germline and somatic) tests. All these will provide you more insight into monitoring the status of your prostate cancer.

I was on active surveillance starting in 2012 for almost 9 years with a localized, 3+3=6 (2nd opinion confirmed), PSA of 4.2; biomarker (OncotypDx) results were positive. I made a commitment that should my PSA ever reach 10, or Gleason reach 7, or have a negative biomarker (genomic) test, that I would seek active treatment.

PSA slowly increased during that time. But, those 9 years gave me more than enough time to comfortably and without pressure evaluate all treatment options, as well as benefit from advances in treatments and medicine.

After almost 9 years, my PSA was 7.976, but my Gleason did reach 7 and my biomarker (Prolaris) test indicated that I had “exceeded the threshold for active surveillance.”

By then I had already decided that proton beam radiation was my choice of treatments. At 65y, I had that treatment during April-May 2021. Today, nearly 3 years later, PSA remains low and life is back to the way it was prior to the PCa diagnosis.

Wishing you the best with your active surveillance. Keep it truly “active.”