Newbie here, just got a PSA score of 12 with no prior symptoms.

Mayo in Scottsdale AZ is right up the road and I will go there for "more" opinions -- trust me.

As the original poster, I am overwhelmed with the awesome amount of great information that I will use during my journey. All of your insightful comments will help when I ask for 2nd and 3rd opinions and determine the best treatment and recovery plan. Just know your taking the time to share your trials has comforted me and has helped. Thanks.

I gather it was a bit of a shock . PSA 12 is high , but there could be all sorts of reasons for it . Keep a file of all your visits upcoming . Get to a good Urologist ( URO) as soon as you can . We are here for you here ! Keep us in the loo of your progress ! James on Vancouver Island .

Everyone on this forum is fantastic! I count myself lucky to have found this group. Please ask as many questions as you need to! Keep us up to date on your decisions. The support here is great! 🙂 You are not alone in this journey.

Hey...I forgot to mention in my above reply...Great screen name!
Let us know your progress. Best wishes for a nothingburger.

Thank you so much, I am amazed at the generous amount of guys taking the time to share their experiences. As you know, this is a scary time in my life and the support means everything.

Oddly enough, I was a golf course superintendent and that was my tournament name I used so for awhile I was anonymous.

Some good indicators before the biopsy. (A) Free PSA / Total PSA ratio (B) PSA Density: Total PSA / Prostate Weight … I had a Gleason 3+4 at 48yo. The total PSA was 3.9, but the ratios were terrible.

If you had a normal PSA what caused you to suspect cancer. I am 73 and my PSA gone up to 2. I do have urine leaking. But not much more. Should be worried?

@carlwgordon
Very good question and glad to answer.

Now this comes from my Mayo PCP, urologist, UFHPTI R/O and Mayo R/O not me in anyway trying to infer I am a medical expert on this.

PSA numbers do not determine if you have cancer or not cancer. Many factors can cause high PSA numbers and not cancer. A poster had a good analogy of PSA when starts to rise it is like a "check engine" light on your car dash.

PSA numbers below 4 are considered normal. For years my PSA was .75 and stayed the same.
Then about 6 years ago it started to rise. My Mayo PCP asked me not to ride my bike prior to PSA test to see if that was causing rise. I would ride 20-25 miles. I stopped riding my bike a week prior to test and it continued to rise.

He did not like that and I was not having BPH symtoms. He started doing PSA test every 3 months. The numbers continued to rise and referred me to urologist. That urologist did a DRE (normal). Then ordered a MRI/Contrast which showed suspicious areas. Urologits did MRI/fusion biopsies and they cam back positive for prostate cancer.

At the time of my biopsies my PSA was 3.75 which is normal. What you will see posters post here is that the rising PSA numbers are the key to something wrong. You can have prostate cancer and have normal PSA numbers and you can have abnormal PSA numbers and not have cancer.

So to answer your question it was the rising PSA numbers test after test that my PCP did not like. I did not have symptoms of BPH or prostate cancer.

You have a normal PSA. Has it been rising at every PSA test? You mentioned leaking do you have symptoms of BPH?

If your PSA numbers stays at 2 I and speaking for me and my experinece not giving you medical advice would not be worried and would work with my PCP to continue testing. If my PSA was continuing to rise I would asked to see a urologist. The leaking and PSA could just be BPH and even a rise of PSA could be caused by BPH, infection, irritation, etc.

Do you have any symptoms of BPH other than leaking. What I found was as I got older I started to leak more. You can do kegel exercises to help with that. You can always asked for referral to urologist who can do a DRE to examine the size and feel of your prostate.