Knowing your numbers is an essential part of monitoring your advanced prostate cancer. Key numbers to know include your prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, the level of pain you are experiencing, and information about your cancer that can be revealed by scans.
A PSA test is one tool in helping to identify if your prostate canceris progressing despite receiving treatment to lower testosterone.
A PSA test is one tool in helping to identify ifyour prostate cancer is progressing despitereceiving treatment to lower testosterone.
A PSA test is one tool in helping to identify if your prostate cancer is progressing despite receiving treatment to lower testosterone.
Prostate cells, including cancerous ones, produce something called PSA. Your doctor will typically check your PSA level throughout prostate cancer treatment using a PSA test.
PSA tests can help your doctor identify trends, including whether your PSA level is consistently going up, how quickly it is rising, and over what period of time.
If your PSA level starts to rise while you are receiving treatment to lower your testosterone level, this may mean that your cancer is getting worse.
A rising PSA does not always mean prostate cancer is getting worse. Other factors may affect your PSA level, including conditions like benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an enlarged but noncancerous prostate; prostatitis, inflammation that may come from a bacterial infection; some medicines; exercise such as running or bicycling; and ejaculations. Your doctor may recommend you refrain from sex and exercise for 3 days before a PSA test. This will allow the PSA test to be more exact.
Scans can help to identify if your prostate cancer has spread.
To understand if your prostate cancer has spread, your doctor may recommend different types of scans. These may include a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), which is also known as a CAT scan, or bone scan. These scans can reveal whether your prostate cancer has spread to other parts of your body. If you already have metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), these scans can also reveal whether the number of tumors in other parts of your body has increased.
It is important that your doctor understand how much pain you are experiencing. Pain is unique to each person and can bedifficult to gauge, so many doctors use what is known as aVisual Analogue Scale to establish the intensity of a patient’spain. Such scales typically range from no pain at all to anextreme level of pain.
It is important that your doctor understanding how much pain you are experiencing. Pain is unique to each person and can be difficult to gauge, so many doctors use what is known as a Visual Analogue Scale to establish the intensity of a patient’s pain. Such scales typically range from no pain at all to an extreme level of pain.
Questions to ask your doctor
Filling out this guide can help you and your doctor create a prostate cancer plan that’s right for you.
The website you are about to visit is owned by Astellas or Pfizer.