WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF OTHER TYPES OF PSA IF I HAVE PROSTATE CANCER?
Free PSA, Complex PSA (PSA-ACT), hK2 and other new PSA screening tests have no benefit over the currently used PSA tests in patients who already have a diagnosis of prostate cancer. They are helpful only in screening situations in helping us determine who needs or does not need a biopsy. AFTER RADIATION THERAPY (EXTERNAL BEAM OR IMPLANT) After any form of radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer the prostate gland is left in place. Therefore the PSA level may not become unmeasurable. This is not unexpected and reflects the presence of remaining non-cancerous prostate tissue which also releases PSA into the blood stream. We do expect the PSA level to fall, however, to a very low level and stay there. Currently, no exact level has been established as the expected ‘break-point’ of success. Some use 0.2 some use 0.5, some 1.0 and some set not exact level but say that whatever the PSA falls to after treatment is the baseline and as long as the level doesn’t rise from that point on tw
