Monday, August 16, 2010

Removed prostate cancer, rising psa levels

removed prostate cancer, rising psa levels?
my dad is 70 had his prostate removed around 3 years ago. he's been fine ever since, but recently he had a blood test that showed chnages in his psa levels? what does this mean. has the cancer spread through the body or still where the prostate used to be
Cancer - 2 Answers
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1 :
There's three possibilities: some of the prostate gland may have remained intact and the gland is growing back with normal cells; the gland could be growing with cancerous cells; or some of the cancerous cells spread elsewhere. The docs will have to run some tests to see what is causing this. When part of the prostate is left intact, It is common for the prostate tissues to increase after surgery, so it's not necessarily a sign that something is wrong.
2 :
If your father had his prostate removed they removed the whole thing. A rising PSA is an indication of disease progression, but this does not mean it has spread through the body. It is not unusual for a PSA to start rising years before metastatic disease is evident and it is not likely any other tests will be run at this point. Hormone therapy should keep it manageable for years to come. Typically prostate cancer is slow growing and many patients live 15-20 years with the disease.

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