PSA of 50,000?

I saw my primary care physician today (admitedly not a uro nor onc)
and he told me he has a patient who has advanced metastic pca (bone
cancer) whose psa went as high as 50,000!!!! But the point he made
was, his medical oncologist, through various chemo therapies have kept
him alive for 5 years since this occurrence..and reduced his psa to
acceptable levels.
I've never heard of a psa this high....especially with the patient
living 5 years afterwards (my doc says he is still working everyday as
a high school principal).......have any of you heard of such a
"recovery"?

"skeptic" <ribrass@aol.com> wrote in message
news:8e98c895-e301-4c98-8730-3984860f15a4@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>I saw my primary care physician today (admitedly not a uro nor onc)
> and he told me he has a patient who has advanced metastic pca (bone
> cancer) whose psa went as high as 50,000!!!! But the point he made
> was, his medical oncologist, through various chemo therapies have kept
> him alive for 5 years since this occurrence..and reduced his psa to
> acceptable levels.
> I've never heard of a psa this high....especially with the patient
> living 5 years afterwards (my doc says he is still working everyday as
> a high school principal).......have any of you heard of such a
> "recovery"?

The highest I've seen on this board is 4900. I know it can go higher, but I
never heard 50,000.

On Apr 11, 11:25 pm, "Steve Kramer" <skra...@cinci.rr.com> wrote:
> The highest I've seen on this board is 4900. I know
> it can go higher, but I never heard 50,000.

I remember him. IIRC he said that his cancer was discovered
after it reached 4900. Then he was put on hormone therapy, which
brought it down to a low value. I don't think we heard from him
again and don't know what happened to him.

Googling around, I found this: http://tinyurl.com/44tuch a case
study of a man with almost 10,000. Here's the abstract:

"A 78-year-old man admitted with clinical jaundice and pelvic
pain had a total bilirubin level of 6.56 mg/dL, an alkaline
phosphatase level of 855 U/L, and a prostate specific antigen
(PSA) level of 9996 ng/mL. A computed tomogram demonstrated
marked retroperitoneal, peripancreatic, periceliac, and
periaortic lymphadenopathy. A bone scan revealed increased
radiolabeled technetium uptake in the pelvis, vertebral column,
parietooccipital region, ribs, and appendiceal skeleton. A biopsy
of one pelvic lesion revealed metastatic prostate cancer. This
man's obstructive jaundice and bone pain had a dramatic response
to treatment with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog
(leuprolide) and antiandrogen (bicalutamide). All bone pain and
clinical signs of jaundice disappeared in 1 week. His total
bilirubin decreased to 0.84 mg/dL by 2 weeks. His PSA values
reflected this clinical response, decreasing to 4022 ng/mL in 1
week, 2680 ng/dL after 2 weeks, and 1028 ng/mL after 1 month of
the above therapy."

That was one sick fellow. It's interesting that he felt a lot
better after one week on ADT.

Alan

"Alan Meyer" <ameyer2@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:44098b48-aaea-4b16-8f9e-6aba47c41ff3@a23g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>
> On Apr 11, 11:25 pm, "Steve Kramer" <skra...@cinci.rr.com> wrote:
>> The highest I've seen on this board is 4900. I know
>> it can go higher, but I never heard 50,000.
>
> I remember him. IIRC he said that his cancer was discovered
> after it reached 4900. Then he was put on hormone therapy, which
> brought it down to a low value. I don't think we heard from him
> again and don't know what happened to him.

He was at one point William243 and at others Myriad, Banter, and Banter624.
He too lived a number of years after diagnosis. His dx was just before mine
in 2000. He went on Lupron and got his PSA down from 4,900 to 2.1 (yes, on
is a comma and the other a decimal point). He went refractive in November
2004 and, unless he's using still another handle, we haven't heard from him
since. He was 50 years old when diagnosed.






--
PSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46
Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c
RRP 12/15/2000 G7 (3+4), T3cN0M0 Neg margins
PSA <.1 <.1 <.1 .27 .37 .75 PSAD 0.19 years
EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47
PSA .34 .22 .15 .21 .32 PSAD .056 years
Lupron 07/03 (1 mo) 8/03 and every 4 months there after
PSA .07 .05 .06 .09 .08 .132 .145 PSAD 1.4 years
Casodex added daily 07/06
PSA <0.04, <0.05, <0.04, <0.04, <0.1 2/12/08
Non Illegitimi Carborundum

"Steve Kramer" <skramer@cinci.rr.com> wrote in message
news:48009ab0$0$4066$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> "Alan Meyer" <ameyer2@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:44098b48-aaea-4b16-8f9e-6aba47c41ff3@a23g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>>
>> On Apr 11, 11:25 pm, "Steve Kramer" <skra...@cinci.rr.com> wrote:
>>> The highest I've seen on this board is 4900. I know
>>> it can go higher, but I never heard 50,000.
>>
>> I remember him. IIRC he said that his cancer was discovered
>> after it reached 4900. Then he was put on hormone therapy, which
>> brought it down to a low value. I don't think we heard from him
>> again and don't know what happened to him.
>
> He was at one point William243 and at others Myriad, Banter, and
> Banter624. He too lived a number of years after diagnosis. His dx was
> just before mine in 2000. He went on Lupron and got his PSA down from
> 4,900 to 2.1 (yes, on is a comma and the other a decimal point). He went
> refractive in November 2004 and, unless he's using still another handle,
> we haven't heard from him since. He was 50 years old when diagnosed.

What the hell! Only one way to find out. I sent him an email AND HE
RESPONDED!!!

Here's what he has to say:



"As far as whether I have 'beat the bastard' .... no .... I have advanced
prostate cancer. I have been on Lupron for about 7 years, but it is no
longer working .... now I go through a regimen of chemotherapy (which isn't
working either).

"My PSA reading from a few weeks ago was in the 600's ... The scans show
various activities in my bones, and lymph node."