The need for regular follow-up after prostate cancer treatment is due to:
- Prostate cancer may have some micrometastases at the time of diagnosis, which may not be detected by today’s tests (CT, isotopes);
- Also after radical surgery or radical radiotherapy, some patients may have positive residual lesions at the cut edge, residual positive lymph nodes, etc.
These are all potential risks for tumor recurrence after initial curative treatment. Therefore, regular follow-up after treatment is important.
Follow-up visits mainly include:
- Detection of PSA levels.
- Prostate specific antigen (PSA) should gradually decline after curative treatment and should be undetectable 6 weeks after radical surgery.
- The PSA decreases slowly after radiation therapy and may reach its lowest value up to more than 3 years after radiation therapy.
- Rechecking PSA is recommended once a month for 1 year after surgery and may be extended thereafter.
- The PSA is considered to have no clinical or biochemical progression if it is less than 0.2 ng/ml. More than 0.2ng/ml on 2 consecutive occasions indicates biochemical recurrence of prostate.
- Rectal examination: Used to determine nodules in the prostate region due to local recurrence.
- Imaging: Bone scan, CT, MR, PET/CT, etc., to determine local or distant metastases.
Outpatient follow-up every 1 to 2 months for 1 year after surgery. In the second year after surgery, the frequency is increased to 3-6 months.