I posted this over at TMF when there was a discussion on the value of the PSA test.

My doc did annual prostate exams both digitally and PSA blood draw throughout my 50s and 60s up until I was just about to turn 67. Nothing showed up until 2017 when my PSA spiked. He hadn’t felt anything unusual so he put me on an antibiotic and checked it again in a month. It was up a little bit more. The next step was a biopsy. That showed a fairy aggressive cancer. I opted for robotic assisted surgery. For 18 months, I had PSA blood tests done every 6 months that showed undetectable levels of PSA. Then on my 2 year anniversary, the test showed levels that shouldn’t have been there. Some of the cancer cells had been missed in the surgery and had started producing the antigen at a level that was detectable. Over then next 3 months, ending right before the COVID lockdown, I had 39 sessions of radiation to zap those cells. Since then, no PSA has been detected. I am on an annual PSA test now. I’ll find out in December if things are still good. Was the PSA test overused in my case? I don’t know. But I do feel that without it I would not be typing this post today.

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