Hi Anieke. 

Actually 6.5 is low so try to relax thares [@woodworm]‍ who had a psa of 70 years ago had some treatment comes on the forum now and again to see if he can help others hopefully he'll pop on to talk to you.

Alot have treatment and get back to a normal life. 

I'm on most days seeing what i can do, my psa was 1581 in February 2016.

Your husband could have a scan to check things out and if he hasn't yet a biopsy. 

If you want to ask anything I'll try to answer remember nobody on here is medicaly trained just have experience of cancer first hand. 

Oh and [@telemando]‍ will probably have a better idea than me.

Please keep in touch then your information could help others, also it's is quite possible his hip and back pain is caused by something else.

Good luck and best wishes for the future for you both. 

Billy 

PSA is age-dependent. A friend nearly had prostate cancer missed because it is uncommon in under 50s/early 50s. Age can make a significant difference to the numbers.

Also results are generally benchmarked against any previous test results for individual as can vary from person to person not just age-related. 

Suggest you ring the nurse helpline to chat through any concerns.

Hello

Our moderators have asked if we can add anything to this discussion. 

As Billygoat has said, if your husband does turn out to have prostate cancer then his PSA isn't especially high.  But, PSA is only one of the factors that need to be taken into account, and given the pain in his hip, if he does have prostate cancer, they may still want to do scans to see if this is what is causing his hip pain.

When diagnosing prostate cancer a number of factors are taken into account.  As Sunscared has said, even moderately raised PSA levels can sometimes be a cause for concern especially in younger men, most doctors would need to take into account the person's age and any other symptoms they had to decide whether to refer someone for further tests.  Please do give our nurses a call if you want to talk things through.

I hope this has been of some help.

Martin 

Hi Annieke. Welcome to the forum.

I'm not a doctor and I have no medical qualifications; however, I was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer nearly 10 years ago at age 56.  Since then I've learned something about the treatment and diagnosis of early prostate cancer and I'm involved with my local prostate support group. 

I can see that you're worried that your husband's back pains could be a symptom of prostate cancer.  Although I'm no expert, this does seem highly unlikely.  These sort of pains are only caused by an advanced cancer that has spread, but in that case, the PSA would be in the hundreds or thousands, not as low as 6.5.   If it turns out your husband does have cancer, then a PSA of 6.5 would indicate an early stage, low risk cancer that has been caught early and is easily treated - or indeed may not need any treatment at all.  In such cases, a delay of 10 weeks or so isn't likely to have any long term impact on the final outcome. 

But let's not cross that bridge just yet.  In fact, a PSA of 6.5 could be caused by a prostate infection, or might just be an indication that he's suffering from the very common benign prostate swelling that affects most men as they get older.  

I know it's difficult not to worry, but the GP is simply following standard protocol in referring your husband for further tests, and it is by no means a done deal that he'll get a prostate cancer diagnosis.  But if he does, then like me he should be one of the lucky ones whose cancer was caught early.