More On PSA

  Last week I wrote about my prostate biopsy and finally learning that I do not have prostate cancer. I wanted to share things that I’ve learned in this process specifically about the PSA test. If you’re pushing the middle to older age area, you need to get your PSA blood test, prostate cancer screening for men is imperative.

  Obviously I’m not a doctor, so I’m sharing information to the best of my understanding. Docs like to see the PSA number between 0 and 4. Above 4 is considered high.

  Now this is important. The PSA number does not tell you that you have cancer or not, it’s only another tool the docs have to see if you might be at risk for cancer. The keyword is might.

  Follow me here. My PSA went above 4 about ten years ago. The docs were not so concerned in my case and the alarm bell went off when my PSA went above 6 earlier in January 2017. It was little spike so to speak. Now here’s the deal, I had a biopsy and it came back clear. Having said that, I know of a guy who had a PSA about a point and a half above mine and he had very aggressive prostate cancer with hard complications. On the other hand I spoke with a guy who had a low PSA below 4, and he had prostate cancer which was taken care of through radiation. So you see, the PSA is only an indicator, maybe a decent indicator but not a definitive one. I also know a guy who has a PSA of 12 and he does not have cancer, he's clear. There's four scenarios to compare.

  One more thing, prostate cancer is graded on the Gleason scale. Prostate cancer that is low on the Gleason scale is the less aggressive, whereas cancer that is high up on the Gleason scale is very aggressive. When somebody says something like you can live a long time with prostate cancer, well that is only half true. You can, but that’s because it’s probably lower on the Gleason scale if not the lowest number. Check out the Gleason scale on your own. It’s good to know this stuff as we get older.

  If you know more, write about it in the comment section.