What to expect PSA number 4.7? 72 yr old

@joe
You might want to try the PSE blood test right away. The PSA test has a 57% accuracy and if you add the PSE test, you get a 94% accuracy. It is an effective screening test that identifies an individual’s current risk of prostate cancer . PSE is administered alongside or following a standard PSA test to significantly boost screening performance and reduce the number of men referred for unnecessary biopsies and treatments. It also can be used to detect biological re-occurrence.

If you want to find out more, a Senior VP at Oxford biodynamics, who makes the PSE test has offered to be contacted via email for any questions. His name is Steve Arrivo and his email address is steven.arrivo@oxfordbiodynamics.com.

The diagnostic steps might follow a path like this.
1. PSA
2. MRI
3 Targeted BIOPSY based on MRI findings with Decypher test to assess risk
4. PSMA PET to evaluate potential spread outside prostate
5. Treatment decisions

Unfortunately there are some medical professionals that their trust go hand in hand with their beach home retreat and automobiles.

And personally, I wouldn’t trust a urologist to help me across the street. But that’s just me. Lol

Here is a good website to compare odds of cure for the major treatment paths. You have to determine your stage, low risk, intermediate, or high risk (risk of recurrence). So if you are intermediate, pull up the intermediate chart and you can see the odds of 10-20 yr survival, etc. based on the treatment you pick.
https://www.prostatecancerfree.org/compare-prostate-cancer-treatments/
It is best viewed on computer or just print it on paper. Not so viewable on phone.

To make the graphs easier to read, i drew a dot on the endpoints of the elipses, and then drew a line through the dots. This turns the elipses into lines.

Also be aware the the graphs don’t show any salvage radiation benefit. This would boost the surgery odds up a bit.

And, this is a very dysfunctional industry from my view. Loads of bad info mixed in with the good info. Same with the docs. Some of them are more dangerous than the cancer.

Rant mode on: I agree with all of the above. My PC was also "missed" so when first discovered I had an advanced, aggressive PC which required immediate action. But even though the biopsy came back bad, the MRI showed cancer outside the gland, etc., the "hurry up and wait" was still there. It seems that many urologists take the "wait and see" approach, which is wrong in my opinion. Is it because it's so common? Is it because it's *supposedly* a slow-growing cancer? I don't know, but from many of us on this site we went from blissfully happy to "oh crap I have cancer" in a heartbeat. 0 to 60 in 1 second?

I don't understand the mentality of the medical/insurance brain trust in taking such a laissez-faire approach to a life-threatening disease.

Joe - Is this velocity much higher than previous ones ? I think another PSA would not hurt . Are you under care of a URO ? Yes at 4.7 , you need to understand what is going on. Could be a number of things that drove PSA up ! Any intrastate cancer or glandular cancer family ? Let me know ..... God Bless ... James on Vancouver Island .

Totally agree. Psa tests can vary on a day to day. The mri gives a better idea and the biopsy is the best test. You also need to have a “sympathetic” person to analyse the results. If in doubt, get tested. Don’t get fobbed off if you want better proof.

My PSA was 6.3 when the red flag went up. 30 days later it was 6.1 but they wanted to do a biopsy anyway. 12 cores, 6 of which were 4+4.

I was 68 at the time

On 2nd and 3rd opinions .
My 1st -- 5 Core Transperineal MRI Fusion Biopsy came back negative . This was in direct conflict ( 98 % of the time ) with my MRI PI-RADS 5 . My 2nd - 15 Core biopsy came back 6 Cores in the target zone Gleason 2 +3 = 6 I had a 2nd opinion , all 6 came back Gleason 3 +4 =7
A 3rd opinion came back - 4 were Gleason 6 and 2 were Gleason 7 . Now I have :
Negative , G6 , G7 & MOST G6 with some ( 2 ) G7 . GO FIGURE ' And these were supposed to be top pathologists at major research & teaching hospitals .
Let's not forget " A prostate biopsy is one of the more difficult , or the most difficult , too analyzise ." As they say : Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ,