Connect
A friend's PSA went from 10.6 to 16 in 6 months: BPH or cancer?
A friend of mine has a history of cancer in his family and of BPH. At A PSA at over 10 they gave him an MRI and a biopsy which showed nothing. His Urologist put him on antibiotics, gave him another test and his PSA was up to 16. His urologist gave him more antibiotics and he is going to have another blood test shortly.
Can an enlarged prostate cause the PSA levels to go this high without having any cancer? Any experiences with this?
Like
Helpful
HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group.
Connect
Yes it can. Had a friend whose PSA went up to 50 and he never had prostate cancer. He did have a few biopsies. He ended up dying from a totally different cancer, lymphoma.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 Reactions@jeffmarc thank you that’s helpful and hopeful. I had just never heard of it going that high without some sort of infection.
Poor guy. He was determined to get one. Sometimes you wonder who is calling the shots.
Adding to the chorus of yes, good friend.
There is a supposedly more specific PSA test https://www.exosomedx.com/physicians/exodx-prostate-test
It seems like I've heard of another serum lab that might be more specific to the prostate. Anyone out there having had any of these tests?
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 Reaction@gently I think the urine prostate test sounds great but I wonder why the ExoDx Prostate Test is used only with Men with elevated PSA levels from 2-10ng/mL
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsNow there’s the PSE test - uses PSA plus 5 genetic markers present with prostate cancer. Supposed to be 94-97% accurate as opposed to 51% for PSA.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
5 Reactionsthanks, heavyphil,
https://store.oxfordbiodynamics.com/products/episwitch-pse#:~:text=PSE%20uses%203D%20genomic%20profiling,cells%20associated%20with%20prostate%20cancer.
https://www.exosomedx.com/physicians/exodx-prostate-test
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
3 Reactions@bensl, google AI says because this is considered the grey zone--the equivocal zone. That can't be correct though.
A colleague did have similar symptoms being treated with antibiotics for BPH and potential prostate stones, after a MRI and biopsy were negative. After the PSA did not decrease over a 6-month time period, he was subsequently scanned using better MRI (3T multi-parameter MRI - mpMRI) which detected a potential small tumor (I don't know tumor size) in the prostate. After a MRI guided biopsy confirmed a small tumor, he is now awaiting Decifer test results to decide on AS or treatment options. Until the results of the 3T mpMRI, my understanding is that his urologist believed the rising PSA was due to a stubborn infection in the prostate and had other patients with similar symptoms (rising PSA, no detected cancer).
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 Reaction@jsh327 thank you. Not sure if he had a 3t mri. I am also wondering whether a PMA pet scan would be a good choice for him as well.