My husband had his yearly physical with our regular DR. last week. Blood work and PSA done. He did have LAP/with green light done on July 31st 2018. His PSA was 6.02 on the latest blood work. Don't recall before surgery. He had a traumatic brain injury in 9/2017 and catheter was in for almost 9 months for urine retention. I did read that it could be elevated for 6 months after surgery. He also is going back this week for redoing the blood work. They think he might be slightly anemic. He is a big coffee drinker and ice cream lover. Does diet have something to do with this elevation? I had read dairy might. Any feedback? Thank you. I thought I posted this earlier so if duplicate...sorry!
Dairy very bad for prostate cancer, as is sugar. See if you can get him to eat more veggies and whole grains and less sugary junk
Lots of things can elevate a PSA and he's wise o recheck it. It sounds like he's been through the ringer.
If it comes back high again, PM me and I can walk you thru what he should and shouldn't do. How old is he? Did he recover from the TBI? Does he pee OK now?
Gloria,
I don't think diet would cause his PSA to rise. If he had the Green light surgery done in July 2018 that is already 8 months post surgery and should not be cause for elevated PSA. Is he still using the catheters ? Carheters can cause PSA to rise a few points. Depending on what his doctor thinks he may have to do a biopsy. If he needs it, a multiparametric 3TMRI, may be a better choice for diagnosing the possibility of cancer. If the MRI shows cancer an MRI guided biopsy would be less traumatic, and more accurate, than the old multi needle approach.
Good luck, Thomas
PSA is not that bad considering that it has false positives and negatives. Green Light Laser takes long to recover and almost as bad as TURP. If symptoms continue much longer get another opinion.
No catheters
Considering his injury, he is back about 80%. Problems with short term memory and compulsiveness. He is 69 and yes he can pee ok again.
GL is a quick recover procedure. It is normally day surgery here in the UK. Did you have it or are you just spreading rumors? It is in no way comparable to any version of TURP.
My retention about six weeks after GL was negligible and my PSA was down from 9.8 to 5.0. where it had been nine years before.
Gloria,
Elevated PSA is statistically associated with not only prostate enlargement, but prostate cancer. I am surprised he hasn't had a biopsy at this point. When my PSA went above 4.0 I had a biopsy and it came back positive, and a year and a half later I had the cancer treated. That was five years ago and and my PSA is now 0.1 to 0.2. Normally your doctor would send you to a urologist for further consultation and testing.
Tom
I would want to see that number twice before having a biopsy. Tons of things can elevate PSAs and prostate cancer is very much over-treated
He had a biopsy 6 years ago everything fine and $2500.00 out of pocket. That is why I am involved because he is not.
He was there for the last year. Surgery to treat the enlarged prostrate. Don't they do a biopsy on some of what was removed? He also was not taking his meds about 2 years ago. Just got tired of going around with him.
repeat the psa (avoid cycling,heavy exercise, ejaculation for a couple of days before). if still raised then an MRI to decide on whether a biopsy needed and best approach. green light laser vaporises tissue so biopsy/histology not normally done.
If he had a TURP some prostate tissue was removed and is sent to the lab. You didn't say what type of surgery he had, but reading between the lines it might have been a TURP. A PSA of 6 doesn't mean prostate cancer, but might just be the enlarged prostate. If the PSA has been rising, then you would have to look at the rate of rise. If the PSA is steady, then that's a better sign. One can have a high PSA and not have the cancer, or a low PSA and have it, but 4.0 is usually the point where the urologist wants to do a biopsy. Another option is a 3T MRI, but they are expensive - out of pocket about $2400, but that avoids the pain of another biopsy.
I have gone through this whole process and it's not fun. My biopsy just cost me a copay of $35, but I am on Kaiser HMO and everything is included. Of course, I have to use their doctors. If I go "out of system" then I have to pay out of pocket.
I just went back and read your first comments, and if the surgery you are talking about is Greelight laser then it's not likely that any tissue was sent to the lab, since the GL doesn't remove tissue.
I had green light laser and my recovery was a bloody 8 months. 3 years later it went into retention for another 8 months. They then wanted to do TURP. I refused and just as I was about to start CIC my retention was miraculously cured by itself. It has held up so far for a number of years and I keep it that way with diuretics.