Talk Cancer » Prostate Cancer » Positive surgery margins
Positive surgery margins
Question:
My hubby had RRP June 23 and had positive margins. Not what we wanted to hear, but so far he’s had 2 undetectable psa tests. We figure that having positive margins just makes those pesky psa tests that much more anxiety-inducing than without positive margins. It also means we celebrate a whole lot every 3 months. We’ve got a lot of champagne chilling in anticipation of a lifetime of undectables. We’ve also talked to 2 urologists who both said they will only do radiation if his psa goes up as most positive margins with Gleason 6 never have a reoccurrence. Make some happy memories now and know that the buildup to surgery is usually far worse than the reality. — Rebecca Ford
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi there. I’m In Italy and last biopsy (about ten days ago) said: single focus of adenocarcinoma in the laft apex GS 3+3 My PSA is 3.8. I’ll hve a radical prostatectomy in twenty days and my doctor said that the only risk, in my case, will be the positive surgery margins. Have anyone experienced it? and can the radioterapy solve that problem? Of course I hope that my margins will be negative. Thank you in advance Lino
Response:
As you can see by my numbers below, I had that problem. Radiation can cure it after recurrence. Or, as in my case, a little more treatment may be required. But, why worry about what might be? — Steve Kramer Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c RRP 12/15/2000 PSA .1 .1 .1 .3 .4 .8 PSA .3 .2 .2 .2 .3
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi there. I’m In Italy and last biopsy (about ten days ago) said: single focus of adenocarcinoma in the laft apex GS 3+3 My PSA is 3.8. I’ll hve a radical prostatectomy in twenty days and my doctor said that the only risk, in my case, will be the positive surgery margins. Have anyone experienced it? and can the radioterapy solve that problem? Of course I hope that my margins will be negative. Thank you in advance Lino
Response:
Hi there. I’m In Italy and last biopsy (about ten days ago) said: single focus of adenocarcinoma in the laft apex GS 3+3 My PSA is 3.8. I’ll hve a radical prostatectomy in twenty days and my doctor said that the only risk, in my case, will be the positive surgery margins. Have anyone experienced it? and can the radioterapy solve that problem? Of course I hope that my margins will be negative. Thank you in advance Lino
Response:
Hi Lino: Had radical prostatectomy in May this year. Had a positive margin but the last two PSA levels were "undetectable." I don’t think that a positive margin is a certainty for disease spread. I am trying to maintain that attitude. Should it indeed cause further disease I will just have to deal with it. I do not regret the surgical procedure, I do regret not having paid attention earlier to the rising PSA. I had five or six years of rising PSA and both my doctor and I ignored it. When I changed doctors my current doctor was the one who got things moving. We will just have to see what happens. The E-mail address that appears with this post is not real. I do this to prevent spam attacks. Chuck H.
Response:
A positive margin occurs when there is cancer appearing right at the edge of the specimen. When the doctor removes the prostate it is sent to a pathologist who examines it under a microscope and looks for cancer at the edge. If there is some there, it’s a positive margin. The consequences of course are that there quite possibly was some cancer left inside the patient which can spread and affect the ultimate outcome. These positive margins can result from either a tumor growing right up to the cut edge, or from the surgeon cutting through a tumor that extended into surrounding tissues. Subsequent radiation treatment is used if there is a rise in PSA. Not all positive margins, in fact about 70% with a Gleason 6, do not result in a recurrence and no further treatment is needed. That’s the exact position I’m in and my first post-op PSA was <0.1. Good luck with your surgery. Dave Perry – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi there. I’m In Italy and last biopsy (about ten days ago) said: single focus of adenocarcinoma in the laft apex GS 3+3 My PSA is 3.8. I’ll hve a radical prostatectomy in twenty days and my doctor said that the only risk, in my case, will be the positive surgery margins. Have anyone experienced it? and can the radioterapy solve that problem? Of course I hope that my margins will be negative. Thank you in advance Lino