PSA levels increase. When to be concerned?

Have you had genetic testing? My grandfather passed away from pancreatic cancer. Turns out he had BRCA2 and passed it on to his three daughters and then my cousin and me. I got prostate cancer, which my father died of and my brother has, but none of them are BRCA2. Since my father had it, it gives a much higher percentage that my brother and I would have it.

You can get free, genetic testing here

Www. prostatecancerpromise.org

Just make sure you don’t pick the option to have your doctor involved. They won’t send you the spit tube that you returned to get the test until they speak to your doctor.

@debdebkrz

Both Mayo Clinic and UFHPTI has me doing 3 months PSA tests. I was getting 3 month PSA tests (because of rising PSA numbers) a year before PC diagnosis.

If concerned and numbers are rising and high I would asked for 3 month. Best to catch at a 3 months versus 6 months or a year. The year unless completely normal with no rising numbers seems too long.

Need to make an appointment with a Urologist at a Center of Excellence. Investigate his/her credentials and read comments from patients.

Hello, I have been diagnosed with slow growth prostate cancer at 52 and now 54. My PSA level is now 8 They wanted to remove my prostate, but I didn’t want that so I went on active surveillance. What can I do to lower the PSA? My next blood test is August this year 2025 I have no pain and I have trust issues with my doctors since they told me I didn’t need an MRI but I would like to have one. I had three biopsies at the 12 or 14 needles. Only one needle came back positive out of 12 mg or milliliter sample 9 mm or milligrams was positive for cancer.

Going on ADT is the one thing you can do that will drop your PSA. It could take it down to undetectable, But if not that at least quite a bit. ADT also stops the cancer from growing and spreading.

Of course, there are a number of side effects of ADT.

The easiest thing to do would be to get a prescription for Orgovyx, A one time a day pill. In the beginning, it seems to have somewhat Fewer side effects for some people.

You could also start using the estradiol patches, Which work just as well as ADT and has fewer side effects. Doctors are not really up on using it yet, however

That is strange that they did not want to do MRI. How did they perform biopsy than ? Blindly going around instead directly into the lesion ?
Also, you should do PSMA scan to see if your cancer has escaped the prostate.
What is your gleason score ?
Did they do Decipher test ?
There are many things that need to be done ASAP before you start any treatment.

Please find better doctors and go to a big center of excellence that specializes in genitourinary cancers. You need much better care than this ...

Wishing you all the best < 3

Biopsy was done with very long needles like a staple gun. Gleeson score was 3+3 =6
I asked the dr for meds to lower PSA levels was told they don’t do that my health coverage is Kaiser not sure if I should switch to another provider

Is it possible for you to go to a center of excellence and get treatment there? It sounds like you’re not getting enough options where you’re at. There are treatments besides surgery and radiation.

I would think they would want to have an MRI to find out what’s going on. This may just be a financial decision on the part of your doctors. Another set of doctors may determine totally different choices.

Did they give you a Gleason score on the core that came back positive? Did they tell you what percent positive it was and what grade it was percentage wise? These are things that can help you determine whether or not you can stay an active surveillance.

Prostate cancer frequently causes no pain and you will not even notice it’s there until one day it does. At that point, it is quite advanced usually, You don’t want to go there. See another doctor and get that MRI.

Please change the provider ! Your 3+3 definitely is not the case for prostate removal - I have no idea what was doctor's reasoning for that ? When was your biopsy done ? If two years ago than you need to have a new biopsy to check what is the gleason now and MRI is a MUST ! They should do MRI every year to check the progress and size of the lesion. Biopsy is always done with those needles but good urologist uses MRI and ultrasound as guidance for placement of a needle . Also, biopsy should be transperineal .

If new biopsy shows that you still have 3+3 or even 3+4 favorable, you have many options for treatment and please do not start any treatment without doing all of the tests and talking to specialist for prostate cancer. Regular urologist is NOT equipped to follow you and advise you. My husband and me trusted our urologist and ended up with 4+3 unfavorable and aggressive cribriform glands and IDC.

PLEASE , please go to the cancer center of excellence and urogenital oncologist.

A Gleason 3+3 she is not really considered Cancer that needs to be treated.

I’m also with Kaiser and I had a 3+4, so they treated me. If I had a 3+3 and they treated me, I would be very upset, That would be considered over treatment by most competent doctors.

If you review the recent medical information about a Gleason six you will find the medical community feels that people with a Gleason six are over treated. Staying on active surveillance is the optimal thing at this point, Unless they found some extenuating circumstances in your biopsy or heredity. You can look on YouTube for videos about it.

Here is a video with Dr. Laurence Klotz, one of the experts on active surveillance. He can give you answers as to why you would or would not be a good candidate for active surveillance.