Reading PSA (Prostate Specific-Antigen)

Question: My dad’s age is 75 |after getting severe uti PSA total was 41| after 4 weeks it came down 10.85| we did mri. It was pirads 3| can prostatitis misunderstood as soft lesion |do we need to go for biopsy?? My dad has moderate enlarged prostate but no issue in urinating. Takes several blood pressure medicine.

Answer:
Priad3 in MRI is a moderate score which means equivocal likelihood for prostate cancer.
Thus Pirad3 lesions can be seen with cancer (<5%) and benign prostatitis (>90%) as well.
UTI usually causes the PSA to temporarily elevate and can be corrected with antibiotics, in this case the PSA went down but still in the grey zone which means moderate risk of prostate cancer.
Any risk degree for prostate cancer must be checked, free PSA % and DRE are helpful tools especially if MRI imaging isn’t clear like this.

Recommendations:
Short-term follow-up imaging is advised for these patients, less than 6 months.
Do biopsy if PSA free% is lower than 25%, Positive DRE, with PIRAD3 MRI.
Treatment and management must be done with expert doctor in such cases.

Answer: the PSA is a short form for prostate antigen,

This test is currently the main one in determining the condition and health of the prostate gland, especially for those who complain of pain when urinating.

This antigen is released from the prostate and the bulk of it is in the semen and a little in the blood in the form of either bound to other proteins or free.

If the bound is very high, more than free, then it is considered to be coming from an abnormal growth in the prostate which urge for a sample of the prostate tissue that should be taken and examined thoroughly to ensure the presence of a cancerous tumor or not.

But in general, when the antigen level exceeds 10, the suspicion of cancer becomes great, and when the antigen becomes higher than 1000, it is certain that there is a cancerous tumor, and a biopsy is for the final confirmation.

Full Question: I had a PSA test, 7.1 was the result. I had an MRI screening. The result was I had No cancer. The consultant said they would only consider a biopsy if my PSA was over 10.35. This was in the UK. I’m 62.

Answer: you must follow-up every 3 months at most to notice any increasing in PSA results, also I can recommend FREE-PSA-RATIO for you to make the biopsy decision. Have a good day Tony

It’s of good to know that by doing the Free-PSA test we can calculate the Free PSA percentage or ratio. The more Free PSA percentage is likely to be prostate inflammation (e.g. BPH), but lesser than 25% Free PSA is likely to be prostate cancer and must do biopsy by needle or by surgery. A biopsy is taking sample from the prostate tissue and examined that tissue to see if there is normal cells but enlarged in the sizes in BPH or the cells of prostate are abnormally grown up and become cancerous.

You too can send your results to get free trustworthy answers…