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Lab result differences
File this under Good to Know (and WTH!)....
I had labs for PSA and Testosterone done recently - results came back as follows:
PSA = < .10
Testosterone = 80 ng/dL
First, I don't really like how some labs are not specific. Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and Orlando Health, near me, both report PSA as "< .10" if it is, well, less than .1. I want to know if it is .09 or .02!!
The T result of 80 was a scare because I was at 37 six weeks prior, meaning there was a chance that ADT was no longer working for me. No! Note: you basically want T under 50, under 25 is better.
But wait, there was a note of the Quest report from six weeks prior:
"In hypogonadal males, Testosterone, Total, LC/MS/MS, is the recommended assay due to the diminished accuracy of immunoassay at levels below 250 ng/dL. "
I'm on ADT, hence hypogonadal, so I redid the PSA and T at the same lab as before - Quest - 4 days after the first set of results and it came back as:
PSA = 0.04
Testosterone = 30 ng/dL
I didn't know or expect there to be a difference. Scare averted (!), but sharing for others as a general FYI about the correct T test.
Steve
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Well good news. I guess it shows you can’t hang on any one test and have to watch the tests are done correctly.. I’m happy it’s working
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Hug
2 ReactionsYou don’t mention how long you have been on ADT. It should normally drop your testosterone to below 20.
You want an ultra sensitive PSA test in order to get anything below < .1. It sounds like the second time we went. They did the ultra sensitive test instead of the normal test.
It sure sounds like you need to go to a different lab to get yours test done. Having the numbers changed so much in just a few days is unacceptable. There’s something wrong with that lab.
Have you spoken to your doctor about this? Maybe they can recommend another lab to use.
The regular PSA test typically can't detect levels below 0.1, so "< 0.1" means "undetectable."
There is also an ultrasensitive PSA test that can detect down to 0.01 (or even lower). If you're undetectable on the uPSA test, then you can be pretty confident there's no biochemical progression (there have been very rare cases of progression when PSA was < 0.1 on the regular test, but I have not yet found any when uPSA was < 0.01, and my locum oncologist didn't know of any, either).
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Hug
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