Day to Day PSA Variations
 

Recently (June/July 2000) on the Prostate-Help Mailing List there have been discussions of the variability of PSA readings, specifically the day-to-day variations.  Terry Herbert volunteered to provide the blood for daily tests for a month, and the costs were shared by Ron Hoffman, Don Cooley, Benji Algase, Tom Martin, Muriel Morgan, Jack McCarty, Bill Grant, Al Forman, Hap Prado, Ron Flowers, Robert Young, Alex McKenzie, and Robert Grace.

There were indeed variations and the results are being discussed on PPML in June and July.  Rather than being random variations as many expected, there were short term cyclical variations.  Here is the MultiGraph plot.  To see the PSA numbers click on Data File.

(Because the  data file has only PSA numbers, the graph is not representative of the scope of information that can be plotted by MultiGraph, which can include events and treatments.)


 

From: Terry Herbert <ghanesh@49ER.CO.ZA>

Options:
Chart: PSA PSA

Number  Date    PSA     fPSA
#1/28   07-Jun-2000  4.90    30%
#2/28   08-Jun-2000  5.00    31%
#3/28   09-Jun-2000  4.90    36%
#4/28   10-Jun-2000  5.00
#5/28   11-Jun-2000  4.90
#6/28   12-Jun-2000  5.00    30%
#7/28   13-Jun-2000  5.00
#8/28   14-Jun-2000  4.90
#9/28   15-Jun-2000  4.70
#10/28  16-Jun-2000  5.20    31%
#11/28  17-Jun-2000  5.00    30%
#12/28  18-Jun-2000  4.70
#13/28  19-Jun-2000  5.00
#14/28  20-Jun-2000  4.80
#15/28  21-Jun-2000  4.50
#16/28  22-Jun-2000  5.30
#17/28  23-Jun-2000  5.00
#18/28  24-Jun-2000  6.00
#19/28  25-Jun-2000  6.00
#20/28  26-Jun-2000  5.60
#21/28  27-Jun-2000  5.00
#22/28  28-Jun-2000  4.60
#23/28  29-Jun-2000  4.60
#24/28  30-Jun-2000  5.20
#25/28  01-Jul-2000  5.50
#26/28  02-Jul-2000  5.30
#27/28  03-Jul-2000  5.40
#28/28  04-Jul-2000  5.20
        Average 5.08
        Median  5.00    31%

I only had one bad day with the draws when I got a learner who missed the vein in one arm and then had two goes at the other arm, missing the vein there as well!! They finally used a butterfly needle in my hand that day. But apart form that, no problems.

All the best

Terry Herbert
in sunny Kalk Bay, South Africa

It is a tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn't know, and the less a man knows, the more sure he is that he knows everything.   Joyce Carey

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