Looks like a bounce!

Posted by toolbelt @toolbelt, Mar 2 11:03pm

I was diagnosed September 2023 at age 68 with one core 4+3, and one core 3+3. PSA 7.8, Decipher 0.84, clear PSMA PET. I had 6 months of Orgovyx and 5 fractions of SBRT for a total of 36.25 Gy with a focal boost to 40 Gy at the primary lesion.
So far so good!

Shared files

PSA Post SBRTv2 (PSA-Post-SBRTv2.pdf)

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That’s great that your PSA is going back down.
For some reason, with SBRT and brachytherapy (not so much with lower dose IMRT or proton), around ~18 months there’s a PSA bounce.
I’ve read a variety of reasons why this might happen - late prostatitis, delayed death of prostate cancer cells, or an immune response.
It’s usually best to monitor it for a trend and not jump to salvage treatment.

Keep watching it.

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Looks like you are Doing real well. They do say that they wait until your PSA hits two points above the minimum it ever hit, You are quite a bit away from that. It sure is nice to see the PSA drop so much after you get a significant rise. I wonder if it was due to something you did, Like exercise heavily before your PSA test, when it went up so much.

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Profile picture for jeff Marchi @jeffmarc

Looks like you are Doing real well. They do say that they wait until your PSA hits two points above the minimum it ever hit, You are quite a bit away from that. It sure is nice to see the PSA drop so much after you get a significant rise. I wonder if it was due to something you did, Like exercise heavily before your PSA test, when it went up so much.

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@jeffmarc Purposely took time off from exercise prior to all tests. I am thinking a bounce with a magnitude on the high end.

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Profile picture for jeff Marchi @jeffmarc

Looks like you are Doing real well. They do say that they wait until your PSA hits two points above the minimum it ever hit, You are quite a bit away from that. It sure is nice to see the PSA drop so much after you get a significant rise. I wonder if it was due to something you did, Like exercise heavily before your PSA test, when it went up so much.

Jump to this post

@jeffmarc @toolbelt I agree with Jeff. Based on what my radiation oncologist told me, your nadir was 0.47 in May 2025. My second PSA test (October) after my April 2025 SBRT was lower than the first (July); I asked my oncologist if it was already my nadir. She said no, that low PSA is still due to Orgovyx; after you discontinued ADT, (1) the PSA will rise. Then (2) it will go down. Then (3) it will rise again, the lowest PSA before (3) is the nadir -- this will be the baseline to watch if PSA rises 2 points above nadir, it can be a recurrence by then.
I noticed that your PSA tests were approximately every three months. I like that. My first 3 PSA tests post-SBRT were also three months apart. But my oncologist said my 4th will be after six months, and then every six months thereafter.

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