Maarten Vasbinder lives in Isaan. His profession is general practitioner, a profession that he mainly practiced in Spain. On Thailandblog he answers questions from readers who live in Thailand and writes about medical facts.
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Dear Martin,
I am 73 years old. Yesterday I got my PSA blood test result back, it was 7.3.
14 months ago the result of this same blood test was 4.2. Two years ago I had an endoscopy of my prostate and no cancer was found. However, I was prescribed the drug Tamsulosin Retard 0.4 mg every other day to make it easier to urinate.
Is the increase from 4.2 to 7.3 at my age alarming? I'm afraid that if I have an MRI scan made, the doctors will want to operate too quickly and too eagerly.
Regards,
G.
*****
Dear G,
Don't worry and don't get an MRI for the time being. According to the guidelines, PSA screening is not necessary after the age of 70, especially if the results were good a few years ago.
If your prostate is enlarged, the PSA also goes up, since there is more prostate tissue. A large lemon contains more juice than a small one.
Prostate cancer that develops after the age of 70 is rarely the cause of death. The treatment often does.
The only reason to operate on your prostate at that age is problems with urination. You can take finasteride or dutasteride to shrink the prostate. As an extra you get extra hair growth.
Yours faithfully,
Martin Vasbinder