What are the treatment options for a man whose PSA has risen after surgery (PSA recurrence)?
The choices for treating a rising PSA following surgery include: Observation alone for very low and slowly-rising PSA values Radiotherapy to the area where the prostate gland was previously located for low and slowly-rising PSA values Hormone therapy for more high and rapidly-rising PSA values Combination of hormone therapy and radiation in some cases when the PSA is rising and a DRE is suspicious For high PSA values (ex. values greater than 2.0) or if the PSA is rapidly-rising, long-term hormone therapy may be the best option as it could be that the recurrent cancer cells have escaped the previous site of surgery. In this case, the treatment requires a therapy that will work throughout the entire body (e.g. a systemic therapy such as hormone therapy), rather than a localized therapy, such as radiotherapy. With a slowly-rising PSA that is not greater than 1.0, local radiotherapy (alone or in combination with short-term hormone therapy) may be a good option if the oncologist believes th
