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Is PSMA PET scan used for staging?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Jul 18 5:23pm | Replies (13)Comment receiving replies
The PSMA pet test specifically tests for PSMA found in the body. There are a few places where it is naturally produced, and that is known. If you’ve had broken ribs, they can show a SUV but it is minimal.
You are actually getting the ideal testing. I would definitely want to get a PSMA PET scan before treatment to make sure there is nothing else found in the body.
Replies to "The PSMA pet test specifically tests for PSMA found in the body. There are a few..."
@jeffmarc I sure didn't mean to mislead newjersey2 or spread inaccurate information on this forum. I was reacting based on my husband's experiences, some of which were many years ago. My husband first met Dr. Kwon at Mayo Rochester in October of 2010 and has been seeing him there regularly since January 2011. It has been a long time since then, and the standard of care and availability of scans have changed. My husband had his initial staging at Mayo using a C-11 choline PET scan and continued having them for many years after becoming a Mayo Rochester patient. They may have been the most sensitive scans for detecting recurrence of prostate cancer available then, and because Mayo Rochester produced the choline on site, it was readily available there. The PSMA PET became available more recently and is more sensitive than the C-11 choline PET in detecting recurrence, so my husband has had mostly PSMA PET scans in recent years. However, Dr. Kwon still orders a C-11 choline PET periodically in order to see if any active cancer has popped up which doesn't express PSMA and is therefore not detected on that scan. In my husband's case, the choline PET has sometimes found cancer which didn't show up on the PSMA PET, so having both scans available has been useful for us.
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@jeffmarc Thank you! I truly appreciate the response!