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Why Do I Need To Continue Psa Test Even After Prostatectomy ?
I am 71 yrs old and had a prostatectomy 7 yrs ago. Why do I continue to need a psa?
Mon, 6 May 2013
Hi,
i presume you have had a Radical prostatectomy for Prostate Cancer. it is glad to know it has been 7 years and you are apparently well.
when a treatment is offered for cancer, we talk of cure rates. in organ confined prostate cancer, the 5 year cure rates are 90 to 92%. that means, the remaining 8 - 10 people will have a recurrence of prostate cancer at some point in time.
for prostate cancer, PSA is a marker for both diagnosis and follow up after treatment.
PSA becomes a very sensitive marker, in particular, after surgery.
it is imperative that you follow up with serial PSA tests after surgery as your doctor could identify disease recurrence, in case there is, very early and offer you curative treatment again.
Prostate cancer can recur for many years after treatment but the chance of recurrence decrease as time passes. with this regard, you seem to be pretty much cured of your disease.
however, you need to continue PSA monitoring, perhaps lifelong just to ensure you do not get the disease back.
Be reassured but do not stop following advice of your doctor!
Best Wishes,
Srivatsa
i presume you have had a Radical prostatectomy for Prostate Cancer. it is glad to know it has been 7 years and you are apparently well.
when a treatment is offered for cancer, we talk of cure rates. in organ confined prostate cancer, the 5 year cure rates are 90 to 92%. that means, the remaining 8 - 10 people will have a recurrence of prostate cancer at some point in time.
for prostate cancer, PSA is a marker for both diagnosis and follow up after treatment.
PSA becomes a very sensitive marker, in particular, after surgery.
it is imperative that you follow up with serial PSA tests after surgery as your doctor could identify disease recurrence, in case there is, very early and offer you curative treatment again.
Prostate cancer can recur for many years after treatment but the chance of recurrence decrease as time passes. with this regard, you seem to be pretty much cured of your disease.
however, you need to continue PSA monitoring, perhaps lifelong just to ensure you do not get the disease back.
Be reassured but do not stop following advice of your doctor!
Best Wishes,
Srivatsa
I find this answer helpful
Hello
Welcome to healthcaremagic
As PSA is producted by prostate gland and after complete removal its level should be around 0,you may be wondering why you need to get PSA test.
If PSA level starts rising in post-operative patients it almost always indicate recurrence of disease. Rising PSA can detect recurrence even before imaging tests like a bone scan or CT scan are positive
Classically , a PSA rise to 0.4 after surgery has been considered a recurrence. Rises in PSA lower than this have been considered insignificant, possible due to some left over benign prostate tissue. More recently, the value of 0.2 has been chosen.
So be reassured and follow your doctors advise or PSA examination
Regards
Welcome to healthcaremagic
As PSA is producted by prostate gland and after complete removal its level should be around 0,you may be wondering why you need to get PSA test.
If PSA level starts rising in post-operative patients it almost always indicate recurrence of disease. Rising PSA can detect recurrence even before imaging tests like a bone scan or CT scan are positive
Classically , a PSA rise to 0.4 after surgery has been considered a recurrence. Rises in PSA lower than this have been considered insignificant, possible due to some left over benign prostate tissue. More recently, the value of 0.2 has been chosen.
So be reassured and follow your doctors advise or PSA examination
Regards
I find this answer helpful
Hi,
Thanks for query,
Psa test is done to know any cancerous changes take place or not.
After prostactectomy some time this test is advised to rule out any cancerous changes take place at the site of prostate or not.
Ok and bye.
Thanks for query,
Psa test is done to know any cancerous changes take place or not.
After prostactectomy some time this test is advised to rule out any cancerous changes take place at the site of prostate or not.
Ok and bye.
I find this answer helpful
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