What PSA Score sent you to a Urologist?

My PSA was normally 2.0+. During my physical it went up to 3.0+ My doctor then had me run another test and my PSA was 4.0+ . At that I was referred to a urologist

4.1

@jayhall
Personally I have learned it is not the number but the rising of the number on an ongoing basis that is the issue.

I never had a PSA that was above normal. However my PSA was steadily increasing. My PCP did not like this and had me stop riding my bike (I was doing 25 miles) prior to PSA test. It still went up. I was at 3.75. 4.0 and below is considered normal.

So he not me sent me to Urologist who did MRI, then that results warranted a biopsie and then diagnosed with prostrate cancer but in early stages and confined to prostrate from further tests: Decipher, bone scan, PSMA.

Many things can cause an abnormal PSA number when you are around the norm not just cancer. However it is the increasing number that is a concern.
Good luck!

Went from a 3 to a 9 in 6 months

Because of a family history I have been having my PSA done since I was 50. I am now 57. Went from 2.5 at 50 to 6.35 at 57. MRI last year showed probable cancer. Even this year with the increased PSA the doctor wanted to just do another MRI, not a biopsy. I said no... time to do a biopsy. Biopsy showed a Gleason score of 7 (3+4). Since prostate cancer grows slowly, I think they take a conservative approach. My problem is, is grows slowly until it doesn't. I'm going to Mayo Wednesday to check my options. My advice, be your own advocate.

Hadn't been to a dr in 20 yrs, yeah shame on me. 12/29/23 went and PSA is 12.4. That's not good...
High cholesterol, too. Went on super strict diet - no caffeine, no alcohol, no chocolate, no bread, no red meat, no fast food, no fried foods, no chips, etc. Reading ingredients looking for sugar and only buying very low sugar content items. Diet consisted of banana in morning, low sugar count yogurt, low sugar count granola, apple at night which represented 90-95% of my intake. Gleason 4+3 and diagnosis of intermediate grade, non-aggressive cancer confined to the prostate.
May 15th PSA is at 8.6. Radiologist and Urologist have no answer why.
Aug. 2nd PSMA-PET reveals numerous PSMA avid metastatic lymph nodes within the abdominopelvic cavity. Multiple perirectal and presacral lymph nodes with tiny bilateral pelvic sidewall lymph nodes. Intense left periaortic metastatic lymph nodes nodes.
I'm 68 next month and pretty good health otherwise - somewhat active, 10 lbs lighter than when I married at 35, still managing 3 retail stores on a near-daily basis.
Vacillating between surgery and radiation. Any advice one way or the other would be appreciated.

Since your cancer is not confined to the prostrate and seminal vehicles, I would consider ADT for a few months ( to reduce the cancer size) then Robo surgery and then radiation. If it were me, I would want to be very aggressive and hope for a cure. I am 3 years into this G9, high risk, CR had surgery and a year of ADT and Erleada. I am not a candidate for a cure but I wish that I was. Take this seriously as it can be life threatening. Good luck

Hi Kevin. Welcome to the forum. I’m sorry that you have to join the brotherhood that no man wants to be part of. I’m a stage 3 prostate cancer patient with local lymph node disease. I just turned 69 last week so we are pretty close in age.

I’m hoping that you are receiving care either at one of the Mayo facilities or at another center of excellence elsewhere in the country. Let me know if you need a list of them. Getting treatment recommendations from an integrated care team is far more valuable than my personal opinion and likely the opinion of anyone else on the forum.

Someone recommended the book “surviving prostate cancer” by Dr Pat Walsh 5th edition to me. I found it helpful and recommend that you consider buying a copy. I bought mine on Amazon and I think it was the best 10 or $20 that I’ve spent in understanding more about my disease and care options.

Hopefully your team will convene a tumor board and discuss what they believe is the best treatment modality for you. I’m speculating here but my guess is that it will involve at least some amount of radiation as well as first and second generation ADT. It may also involve surgery to debulk the tumor and reduce the size of the battle.

I’ve had surgery, radiation, and I am currently on first and second generation ADT for 24 months. It’s been a challenge for the last eight months to say the least but my PSA is currently undetectable and I do my best each day to enjoy life.

Hang in there and let us know if there’s anything else we can do to help you on your journey.

It is the trend, not the number that is most indicative of further screening necessary. You can have cancer at a PSA of 2 and not have it at 7. I went from 5.8 to 7.8 and that was the trigger.
I would suggest an MRI prior to biopsy. MRI zeros in where they may need to check closer. My MRI clearly showed a lesion and all the biopsy cores in that area were positive whereas all the other were negative.

3.3. Went to urologist who didn’t think I had it. Waited 6 months then 4.5 I had it all along