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Has anyone had the PSMA-PET scan? Was cancer found?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Feb 4, 2023 | Replies (133)Comment receiving replies
I think the question has to do not with “machines” but with having a site approved by the ?manufacturer of the gallium for the PSMA PET. I saw a press release suggesting more sites would be online in Oct 2022. I believe that Mayo Clinic in Rochester is doing these; Dr Kwon’s video (link above) confirms that.
Fuzzyjeepster, would you be willing to tell us what you paid out of pocket for the PSMA PET scan at UCLA? FWIW: On diagnosis of my PCa I asked at Mayo Rochester about the (older) choline scan. The radiation oncologist advised it was not approved for first level diagnostics, but I could pay for it out of pocket (only $18,000 in 2020). I opted not to do that.
Fuzzyjeepster could you clarify if the 7.5 weeks of radiation or the 5 treatments are both traditional (photon) radiation vs. proton beam radiation?
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One limitation to broad adoption: the means to generate the radioactive positron-emitting Gallium 68 from its precursor Germanium 68, and likely some subsequent biochemistry. The Gallium 68 isotope has to be generated on site because its half-life is only 68 minutes. I'm uncertain if they use a Cyclotron or other means, and whether there is a purification step, and it must also be mixed with specialized proteins but the bottom line is, it's highly specialized and complicated. At UCLA, they delivered the Gallium 68 - labelled compound from its preparation site somewhere else on campus using a low tech vacuum delivery tube 🙂 all ready to be injected into a vein in my arm, which was already prepped and ported. As a biochemist who has used radioisotopes and antibodies extensively, I can tell you this is frontier stuff. Among the leaders in this: UCLA and UCSF. The technology has also being adapted to TREAT metastases (different isotopes of course) and just been approved in the US. Initial data are understandably small numbers, so we'll see.
You can learn more here (the PSMA/PET of interest starts around 10 minutes in): This is Dr. Reiter at UCLA