Thanks Handera!
1. How I got here: it is a kind of "The Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly" story. My increasing PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) level in my annual blood test lead my primary care physician to refer me to a urologist (4 month wait to get in!), who ordered an MRI, which, on October 20, 2023, indicated a probability of prostate cancer (PIRAD 4), and a vague impression on my posterior right iliac wing that looked at it could possibly be metastasized prostate cancer; a bone scan was recommended to confirm. On November 13, 2023, a bone scan didn’t find anything on the right posterior iliac wing, but did show signs of something on my 6th, 7th and 9th left ribs that could be metastasized cancer (or could be arthritis, past trauma, or past infection – bone scans, as you may know, do not differentiate). So the next step to confirm whether my prostate cancer has metastasized was this PSMA PET scan (1/22/24). Biopsy was on 11/29/23.
2. Thanks, I did come across the UM study (TERPS trial) the other day and planned to speak with my newly appointed oncologist about it. My late sister's oncologist (who was a colleague of hers too) is an oncologist at UM so I am picking his mind about it. I'm hoping to hear about Theranostics from my oncologist (or I'll be bringing it up). Lutetium-177 vipivotide tetraxetan PSMA therapy (Pluvicto) is a new theranostic medicine for advanced metastatic prostate cancer, approved by the FDA in March 2022. UChicago Medicine is participating in a Phase III clinical trial that is looking to add this same therapy as a first line treatment for patients with newly metastatic prostate cancer. I'm also interest in proton radiation options but we'll see.
Thanks again and the best to you too on your journey!