Psa Blood Test For Prostate Cancer

[Luckydog]

Before worrying yourself to death about a High PSA Blood test result read this -

http://www.prostatecancerwatchfulwaiting.co.za/PSA101.html

Wish I had before I had a biopsy and a lot of very expensive scans....

Least I can do now is to try to save you blokes from going down the same road.

Good luck!

[jarman_ah]

Thanks for that, Luckydog.... we have had the same experience, I would guess.

You never know what you're going to learn on the Thai forum!

[Maestro]

I am moving this topic to the forum “Health, Body and Medicine”.

--

Maestro

[Prakanong]

Very good info - thanks

[Luckydog]

Before worrying yourself to death about a High PSA Blood test result read this -

http://www.prostatecancerwatchfulwaiting.co.za/PSA101.html

Wish I had before I had a biopsy and a lot of very expensive scans....

Least I can do now is to try to save you blokes from going down the same road.

Good luck!

Also theres this -

The prostate is a gland (rather small in relations to other organs) the surrounds the rectum, bladder and scrotum. If the prostate ever becomes infected, the infection causes the prostate to enlarge. This will soon cause a lot of pain while urinating and even during orgasms.

There are a number of ways the prostate can become infected. One of the most common causes of infection is through sexual relations with a partner who has a sexually transmitted disease (STD). One of the most noteable complications from sexual relations is Chlamydia, which has been directly linked to cause prostate irregularities and problems.

The prostate’s function is to produce most of the fluids in semen. Thus, when the male genetalia is subject of a degenerative disease, the prostate’s functionality can decrease.

In addition to being much more careful with your sexual encounters and exposure to STDs, you can increase your resistance to prostate problem with a proper diet.

One of the best nutritional tips for protecting your prostate gland is to include more tomatoes and tomato-based sauces into your diet. Many claim that “Lycopene,” an ingredient primarily found in tomatoes and tomato sauces help prevent prostate cancers, it has been found that other ingredients in tomatoes help to guard cancers interruptions for both men and women as whole. Beta Carotene, for instance, is one of the primary ingredients found in tomatoes that also help to ward off cancers.

Even though eating a healthy diet, which includes lots of tomato-based ingredients, you should also strongly consider taking a general multi-vitamin.

Note: Obesity increases your chances of getting Prostate Cancer!

Edited March 15, 2007 by Luckydog

[tim armstrong]

Before worrying yourself to death about a High PSA Blood test result read this -

http://www.prostatecancerwatchfulwaiting.co.za/PSA101.html

Wish I had before I had a biopsy and a lot of very expensive scans....

Least I can do now is to try to save you blokes from going down the same road.

Good luck!

Jusy a few points of clarification:

1. The PSA test is not definitive as the article says, but does give Drs. enough info to proceed/or not to a biopsy, MRI, and bone scan. The PSA standards are set by US research and currently a score of 4+ equals some concern, 10+ needs further examination, ie biopsy, etc. There is ongoing debate about these numbers.

2. The biopsy result is usually taken after 10 or more samples are taken via probe from the prostate. (not too painful)

3. If you have a positive result for cancer you will be given a Gleason score out of 10. Its composed of 2 numbers the first for primary lesions and the second for secondary lesions. Mine was 4 + 4. ie. A score of 8, which is high.

4. You may also be given a t score (tumour 1-4) to identify its location and whether or not the cancer has spread beyond the prostate.

5. Even with high tech MRI's and bone scans its still difficult to be accurate as some cancer cells are microscopic and may not be obvious in an MRI.or scan.

6. The severity of the cancer and the age of the patient then determine the treatment options. If the Gleason score is below 3, 'watchful waiting' ie monitoring only may be suggested. If the patient is younger (50's), has a Gleason score of 2,3 or above and the CA is still in the prostate, several options incuding, prostatectomy, chemotherapy and radiation may be offerred. If the patient is older ( 70s +) and has a an aggressive cancer and high gleason score, watchful waiting may still be suggested, as treatment may not be seen as likely to succeed.

7. Success rates are largely determined by statistical data received from different treatment centres. There is now a huge volume of this which is regularly reviewed and fedback to centres around the world. BUT, it doesn't take into account individual patient circumstances, case of spontaneous remission, etc. In other words the treatment offerred will be based on what has been successful statistically for your type of cancer.

8. I am about to have intensive internal and external radiotherapy, having already started hormone therapy. This because I have a high Gleason score, and a T3 tumour. But also because I am 57years old. If I was in my 70s or 80s where this kind of cancer is more common , the choice may be just to monitor it, as I have few symptoms other than more frequent night time urination.

9 Success rates are usually given in terms of the probability of surviving cancer free for 5 years. After I have all the treatments my chances are currently about 50%. After that it may or may not return. (Iam dertermined to meditate it away.

10. Finally, to anyone who is Australian,or has access to Oz health care, the treatment centres are excellent and surprisingly cheaper than Thailand. In Thailand the best choice, but expensive is Samitivej Hospital , Bangkok.

[tim armstrong]

Before worrying yourself to death about a High PSA Blood test result read this -

http://www.prostatecancerwatchfulwaiting.co.za/PSA101.html

Wish I had before I had a biopsy and a lot of very expensive scans....

Least I can do now is to try to save you blokes from going down the same road.

Good luck!

[Luckydog]

Before worrying yourself to death about a High PSA Blood test result read this -

http://www.prostatecancerwatchfulwaiting.co.za/PSA101.html

Wish I had before I had a biopsy and a lot of very expensive scans....

Least I can do now is to try to save you blokes from going down the same road.

Good luck!

The trouble is that there are a large number of widely different treatments for Prostate Cancer. All it seems have nasty side effects.....impotence. incontinance, breast enlargement etc.

And 'the best' treatment is often a matter of opinion, and of course MONEY!

Sometimes Doctors disagree violently about the most effective treatrment in a particular case.

As I am 75yrs old 'Watchful Waiting' has been suggested......fingers crossed.

[Tolley]

Before worrying yourself to death about a High PSA Blood test result read this -

http://www.prostatecancerwatchfulwaiting.co.za/PSA101.html

Wish I had before I had a biopsy and a lot of very expensive scans....

Least I can do now is to try to save you blokes from going down the same road.

Good luck!

The trouble is that there are a large number of widely different treatments for Prostate Cancer. All it seems have nasty side effects.....impotence. incontinance, breast enlargement etc.

And 'the best' treatment is often a matter of opinion, and of course MONEY!

Sometimes Doctors disagree violently about the most effective treatrment in a particular case.

As I am 75yrs old 'Watchful Waiting' has been suggested......fingers crossed.

What you say is indeed correct and is one of the biggest issues with prostate cancer.

In many cases where the cancer has not spread and the patient is older ie over 70 it is probably better to do nothing as you will most likely die of something else first.

It also seems that herbal remedies for prostate problems ie not cancer but enlarged prostate are better than pharmaceutical products.

The main thing is not to panic if you have problems but to do a lot of research and check what options are best for you. Don't leave decision making up to a doctor rather research yourself and tell them what sort of treatment you want.

[PeaceBlondie]

I went through a huge American screening program that was trying to see which test better predicted the onset of prostate cancer: the digital rectal exam, or the PSA blood test. From what has been presented on the URL's attached here, neither is reliable.

I now know that my PSA readings may be very unpredictable, since I ride motorcycles, drink lots of caffeine, and have more ejaculations than I care to admit to in the health forum. And no matter how many annual physical exams I have in Thailand (4 now), the doctor doesn't do a DRE. I also see that on my last two or three physical exams, there are no PSA test results. Time to ask for the tests, obviously. Wouldn't a high dollar clinic assume that farang over 60 would want these tests?.

[JimGant]

Prostate cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in non-Asian men, so many TV readers either have the disease -- or will someday. And as has been mentioned, treatment in Thailand is either scarce or expensive. And I would venture, when available, it is probably not world-class (but I hope I'm wrong in this assumption). The latter point is very important because, with all my reading about prostate cancer this past year, the one point that sticks out is that you need an artist physician to deal with it, whether or not you have it cut or fried. Why? To minimize the many possible side effects -- many of which sound worse than the disease (unless you've watched your father die in pain from PC that has spread to the bones).

Why my interest? Two years ago, at age 60, a PSA of 6.7 led me to a 12-core biopsy (the DRE was negative, but because of family history, I elected to skip the antibiotics step and go right to the biopsy, which, incidently, was relatively pain free). The odds were that nothing would show up (65-75% chance), but two cores were found to be cancerous -- but not too aggressive (Gleason 6) nor extensive. So, I had the option of brachytherapy (radioactive rice-sized seeds) without additional external radiation. This is what I finally chose (but living close to Johns Hopkins, the premiere hospital for PC surgery, I *almost* had DaVinci robotic surgery there -- but flipped a coin and radiation won).

Anyway, I'm now in another form of 'watchful waiting,' namely, watching the PSA numbers fall, a process that takes a couple of years before they know if they "got it." Except for a month of 'frequent and urgent,' I've had absolutely no side effects. (With radiation, it's possible I'll need Viagra in a few years -- but, hey, that apparently works for those who've had seeds.)

A month after my procedure, a friend (54 years old) had PC surgery at Johns Hopkins by one of the veteran surgeons there. Today he's impotent and incontinent. They're talking about an artificial sphincter for him. Just shows you that even with an artist (who maybe was having a bad day), dealing with PC can be tricky.

Which gets us back to Thailand. Fortunately, I still have one foot in the States, so I was lucky to be able to have this dealt with there. But what if I were full-time in Thailand?

Hmmm. Maybe the do have a world-class set-up here to deal with prostate cancer. I just don't know. I just know treatment requires talent and experience -- and for a country where DREs aren't routine (short, stubby fingers? ), dealing with prostate cancer probably isn't either.

[tim armstrong]

Prostate cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in non-Asian men, so many TV readers either have the disease -- or will someday. And as has been mentioned, treatment in Thailand is either scarce or expensive. And I would venture, when available, it is probably not world-class (but I hope I'm wrong in this assumption). The latter point is very important because, with all my reading about prostate cancer this past year, the one point that sticks out is that you need an artist physician to deal with it, whether or not you have it cut or fried. Why? To minimize the many possible side effects -- many of which sound worse than the disease (unless you've watched your father die in pain from PC that has spread to the bones).

Why my interest? Two years ago, at age 60, a PSA of 6.7 led me to a 12-core biopsy (the DRE was negative, but because of family history, I elected to skip the antibiotics step and go right to the biopsy, which, incidently, was relatively pain free). The odds were that nothing would show up (65-75% chance), but two cores were found to be cancerous -- but not too aggressive (Gleason 6) nor extensive. So, I had the option of brachytherapy (radioactive rice-sized seeds) without additional external radiation. This is what I finally chose (but living close to Johns Hopkins, the premiere hospital for PC surgery, I *almost* had DaVinci robotic surgery there -- but flipped a coin and radiation won).

Anyway, I'm now in another form of 'watchful waiting,' namely, watching the PSA numbers fall, a process that takes a couple of years before they know if they "got it." Except for a month of 'frequent and urgent,' I've had absolutely no side effects. (With radiation, it's possible I'll need Viagra in a few years -- but, hey, that apparently works for those who've had seeds.)

A month after my procedure, a friend (54 years old) had PC surgery at Johns Hopkins by one of the veteran surgeons there. Today he's impotent and incontinent. They're talking about an artificial sphincter for him. Just shows you that even with an artist (who maybe was having a bad day), dealing with PC can be tricky.

Which gets us back to Thailand. Fortunately, I still have one foot in the States, so I was lucky to be able to have this dealt with there. But what if I were full-time in Thailand?

Hmmm. Maybe the do have a world-class set-up here to deal with prostate cancer. I just don't know. I just know treatment requires talent and experience -- and for a country where DREs aren't routine (short, stubby fingers? ), dealing with prostate cancer probably isn't either.

The Samitivej specialists do routine DRE's irrespective of other results. Their treatment results are up there with the best. Dr. Thanoo Choovichian is the one I use. Surgery is more likely to be successful only if the lesion is still contained in the prostate - which usually applies to cancers with lower Gleason scores. This applies to most prostate cancer sufferers, and yes the side effects and complications are higher in this lsrge population. As a health professional of 30 years I would say Thailand has generally good health services and high awareness of prostate cancer. The problem, like every other public system is funding, and competing priorities, not expertise. In the public system try Lopburi hospital. They specialise in a variety of cancer treatments.

[JimGant]

Tim,

Were you to be getting RT in Thailand, where would you go? And relatedly, are there any radiation oncologists and medical oncologists specializing in prostate cancer that you would recommend?

Best of luck in Oz with your procedure.

[Luckydog]

Tim,

Were you to be getting RT in Thailand, where would you go? And relatedly, are there any radiation oncologists and medical oncologists specializing in prostate cancer that you would recommend?

Best of luck in Oz with your procedure.

Jim, a few guys have said good things, and bad, about Doctors in my For Gawds sake get a second opinion thread.

[tim armstrong]

Tim,

Were you to be getting RT in Thailand, where would you go? And relatedly, are there any radiation oncologists and medical oncologists specializing in prostate cancer that you would recommend?

Best of luck in Oz with your procedure.

Thanks for that. Samitivej hospital in Bangkok would be my choice. The doctor to see is Dr. Thanoo Choovichian

Ph: 0227118000 or 023920011. E: [email protected] He is American trained, speaks excellent English, and understands that farang want to be involved in the treatment discussions. good luck to you as well.