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The PSA test for prostate cancerArrow
Age 61-70
Interview 39  

Interview 39

Age at Interview: 69
Sex: Male
Background: Occupation: Retired engineer. Marital status: married. Number of children: 3. Ethnic background: White British.
Brief outline:He had lost weight and had erectile problems. In 2004, at his annual check up, he asked for a PSA test, which was slightly raised. After a biopsy he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and treated with hormones and brachytherapy.


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He had lost weight and had mild erectile problems. His PSA test showed that it was raised, so the doctor suggested a biopsy.

 



… and then last Autumn when they were doing the annual check-up and so on and took a bit of blood I noticed that they hadn't put PSA on it. She said, “Oh no we don't, we don't like to frighten people because it gives false positives sometimes.” Well nowadays most of my pals have had prostate problems of one kind or another and the Big C, cancer, is not as petrifying as it used to be by any means, people talk about it so I asked her to put it on and she put it on in biro on the thing and it came back 7.3. So I thought well the doctor is going to ask for another PSA test and to my surprise he didn't, he put me in for the full biopsy which is not a very pleasant experience having a camera crew stuffed up your backside and so on. And full biopsy and it's also, you know you have to be on heavy antibiotics afterwards in case they've given you an infection and so on. And I would've thought a second PSA would've done but in fact he was absolutely right to panic, or not panic, to press the red button because I think it was partly because I'd lost 4½ kilograms without intending to, my weight just dropped by that amount and also I was having erectile problems, I'd actually got some Viagra from him which was slightly unexpected I thought and so may be that triggered some worry in his mind and he sent me off. And he was absolutely right it was a Gleason score of I think 7 and they reckoned something like 40% of the, may be it's more than that, of the prostate was cancerous. And so that's what started the PSA thing. It's since gone down to 0.1 while I was on hormones and it's now 0.2, it's doubled, so it's still zero, still nothing. and I would certainly encourage people to have a PSA test but have it checked if it comes out positive, just have a second one, much cheaper than having this awful biopsy.
John Humphrys
The PSA test
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