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Post Prostatectomy 6 years. PSA <.01 until now. Anyone else?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 6 days ago | Replies (113)Comment receiving replies
@esperling
I understand your concerns and wish you the best possible outcome. We do have similar high-risk biology and pathology, except that my surgical margins were negative.
My surgeon does not track PSA at the ultrasensitive level like yours does, so at the one-year mark after surgery, my fourth consecutive PSA test was reported as “undetectable,” meaning <0.02. It’s possible that an ultrasensitive test might have detected a low but measurable PSA and provided information about its trend or doubling time, but I have no way of knowing because of the type of PSA testing I’ve been having.
That is one of the reasons I plan to consult with a radiation oncologist very soon—to discuss whether ultrasensitive PSA testing would be more appropriate for my situation and how best to monitor for a potential recurrence.
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@soli A test that measures down to 0.02 is already an ultrasensitive test. What leads you to think it isn't?
It's true that some uPSA tests can go a bit lower than that, to 0.01 or even 0.006 in the case of LabCorp. But different tests have different methodologies, two of the most common being Roche ECLIA and Beckman Coulter. These can be a little bit like Farenheit and Celsius scales in that a conversion is required: 0.02 on one is not equal to a 0.02 on the other. So depending on the methodology of your test, you may already be effectively testing down to the same levels as other men who report <0.01 socres.
A standard PSA test typically only measures down to 0.1. Your test can already detect 5x lower than that and you're unequivocally well into the ultrasensitive range. I wouldn't do anything differently in your shoes.