Laparoscopic prostatectomy?
I just read the letter from the surgeon to my GP.
I'm having "a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy".
Does that mean it's not a robotic procedure?
If not, what's the difference in terms of procedure & outcome?
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If there is any 3+5, you are a 3+5 which means an 8 Gleason. Are you on ADT now?
No. The pathology report of my prostate after surgery was Gleason 3+4, stage 2.
Is your PSA undetectable now?
According to my urologist at Mayo it is, saying it’s < 0.1.
The 3 month and 6 month checks were at Mayo. Both were reported as < 0.1. PSA checks since then have been done up here in Duluth MN. 9 month was reported as 0.01. 12 month was 0.01. 15 month was 0.02. 18 month (done yesterday) was 0.03. I sent a message to Mayo when the 0.02 came in, and they responded that anything less than 0.1 is considered undetectable. I have an appointment with my urologist in Duluth next week, and I’m anxious to see what they have to say.
After surgery they are able to evaluate the full prostate and it sounds like they didn’t find any 3+5 when doing that evaluation. This is a case where you might have someone else evaluate your biopsy results and find that it’s not a 3+5.
My biopsy was a 3+4 But when they evaluated my prostate, it was a 4+3. I know a few other people who have the same thing happen.
Surprising that a Mayo doctor stated that < 0.1 is considered undetectable. My doctors consider anything measurable to be detectable, but less than 0.1 to be not actionable. Waiting for PSA to approach 0.20 before considered as a biological chemical recurrence and beginning next treatment.. However, measurements < 0.1 were used to track PSA doubling time and I was prepared for the next treatment as the PSA increased above 0.10
My understanding is that different tests use different methods and have different ranges of reporting. Generally < x means that is the lower limit of the test used, so literally [on that test] the level was "undetectable." If another test has a lower limit of < 0.006, then 0.008 might be detectable [on this other test] but not "actionable."
I’ve had my PSA level checked every three months for the past 2 1/2 years. The lab reports have been < 0.1 undetectable.
The standard for undetectable in a PSA test has been < .1 for the 14 years I’ve had prostate cancer., at least according to more than one doctor/oncologist I’ve been involved with