3 month PSA after RP surgery - more questions than answers
Its been 3 months since my surgery and I just got my bloodwork results from my portal and I'm confused. I won't see my doc until Monday and have traded messages with her assistant on the portal today.
My PSA test result was .06 which was a little disappointing for me because I was expecting .01 or something close. I messaged my doc online and her assistant replied essentially saying that a result of .06, .05, and .01 are all pretty much the same and they consider those results as undetectable.
Everything I've read online says that PSAs under <0.05 or less are considered undetectable but .06 is not. I'm trying not to panic and I trust my docs. I should add that before surgery my gleason score was 9, I have the BRCA2 genetic mutation, and was on a ADT trial 6 months before my surgery.
Has anyone had a similar result on their first bloodwork after surgery? I'm curious to see if anyone has been told something similar and how things worked out for them. I will obviously bring up my concern on my Monday visit with my doc but her assistant saw no cause for concern. Thoughts ?
I totally get the anxiety over this result but remember that 0.06 is not considered biochemical recurrence (BCR). That threshold is 0.2. The best recommendation is to chill, as getting stressed about it will not change the future. I am sure your doc will say something similar. Continue monitoring until it gets to actionable levels or, hopefully, not get there. My first PSA post surgery was <0.006 and the second was 0.014. Even though my lab detection limit is 0.006 and the second result is above that, it is generally considered non detect as there is some variability in the assay (my understanding). Your lab does not seem to have as low a detect limit but variability around their stated detection limit probably also applies to your result.
l am interested in hearing about the surgical pathology report.pathology was good - trial drugs shrunk the cancer to less than 10% (was much larger and on both sides before trial started), all contained - no margins, lymph nodes clean.
