In general, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is largely undetectable 6 weeks after successful radical prostatectomy.
If PSA is still high, there is still residual prostate cancer in the body. Possible causes include:
- Preoperative underestimation of tumor staging, resulting in failure to completely remove tumor tissue.
- Preoperative staging is based on imaging (e.g., MRI or CT), but they can only approximate the extent of the tumor, and some tissue that appears normal on the images is actually infiltrated with cancer cells, resulting in incomplete surgical resection;
- Some patients who have been staged preoperatively may not have a complete resection.
- Some patients already have lymph nodes or distant metastases before surgery, but they may be so small that the relevant tests do not detect them.
If the PSA is still high after surgery, ask your doctor for help and provide information before and after surgery to help him/her determine and analyze the cause before taking further treatment measures.