PSA expectations

My urologist says the Labs lowest measurement is <.03. It does not give 0.00.

The title of your post caught my attention. I suffer "PSA Angst." It's like a massive depression a week before the test. Before my diagnosis, advanced metastatic prostate cancer, annual PSA's were a part of my life for twenty years. Always worrying about PSA test results more than my own prostate health. Now they're here to stay. I've lived the trauma of a 100+ascending PSA and the joy of a 1.86 dealing PSA. I've learned to live with cancer. What I struggle with is how to deal with PSA test themselves. Thanks for listening.

Ok the first 2 tests came back at those numbers perhaps different machines are calibrated differently.
Not sure what they consider detectable. I was told by my urologist that .1 or
Under is not detectable. What does your urologist say.?

Same here always think about future tests just would like to eliminate them but my urologist says need to do testing for the rest of my life.
Need to accept this and live your life.

Keep doing the PSA test it's just a few minutes..the results can be posted very quickly at most places.. particularly "My Chart" Epic medical records system.. one has to understand statistics a little..PSA goes up a little one time..it could go down a little next time.. mine did.. what are the varibles is a question to ask?...

He told me once I have no cancer remaining but I don't know what he could base that on.

Thanks for comment . Let me ask u this ! What does your urologist consider a nondetectable number?

I'll have to ask..appt next Monday

There is much discussion about USPSA testing and what constitutes recurrence, variability....

For the longest time a PSA of .2 with a subsequent increase ins second test of .3 was considered evidence of recurrence.

I am not clear what the guidance is on USPSA by NCCN, AUA or others..

I'm attaching my chart showing my clinical history. When my urologist switched to the USPSA you can see I've had a lot of variability in the results, he can't explain it but what we do agree on is given the variability, we do nothing until we see a continuous rise to a level where we could image with one of the recent scans.

That decision point would be ,5 at the earliest,

The variability could be a function of the assays used, calibration of the equipment. , time of the day you have the test, your activity on the days leading up to the test..

A single increase may not constitute a decision point using USPSA. It is difficult not to react, I certainly did whenever mine started "increasing " after switching to USPSA.

My first PSA test after surgery test came with an undetectable reading of <0.01.