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Slight PSA rise 9 months after radiation.

Prostate Cancer | Last Active: May 28 10:21am | Replies (58)
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@jeffmarc

I was wrong. Your relatively high PSA that keeps going down does occur with some people that receive radiation. I’ve now heard of cases where it took three years to get back to undetectable after radiation.

Do remember, if your PSA rises three times in a row you need to look into it, that can mean a relapse.

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Replies to "I was wrong. Your relatively high PSA that keeps going down does occur with some people..."
yearofthecow | @yearofthecow | May 28 4:55am

Thanks Jeff, and my radiation oncologist at UCLA said it can take up to 5 years for NADIR to be reached, and what they are looking for is .5 ng/ml or less as the lowest PSA level reached after treatment.

The important thing as you said is that the trend is going down. However, up to 30% of people experience a temporary PSA bounce on the way that does NOT indicate a reoccurrence, and what makes it more nerve racking is there can actually be several bounces along the way.

That is why it is so important to work with your radiation oncologist when you have questions or concerns.

A lot has been learned in the last 20 years, and when there is a reoccurrence they used to say if you had radiation treatment first, you could not have further radiation or surgery, but would automatically go to ADT. That is not necessarily the case any more. A lot depends on whether it is localized, regional, or distant.

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