← Return to Recommendation for second opinion on prostate MRI scan?

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@merwether

Thanks for information. Very helpful. I belong to three support groups (one local, the other two are online). They all stress the importance of second opinions because of the subjectivity involved and because of the reasons you mentioned above. Dr. Mark Scholtz, founder of the Prostate Cancer Research Institute and double board certified medical oncologist has an excellent series on seeking opinions from radiologists who are experienced in reading prostate MRIs before making a decision on treatment.

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Replies to "Thanks for information. Very helpful. I belong to three support groups (one local, the other two..."

The reason I'm getting second opinions from radiation oncologists (RO) is to narrow down my treatment options such as Viewray MRdian versus CyberKnife which each use Photon beams (xrays). The last RO advised against using Proton radiation because he said the machines had a history of frequently breaking down (not good if your treatments are interupted). Also, the patient can receive external burn/s like a bad sunburn. At this point I've had a MicroUltrasound Transperineal Biopsy which indicated 2 (3+3=6) tumors and one (3+4=7) tumor. Am not sure if this was fused with my 3T MRI though. The Gleason 7 tissue was sent for a Decipher test where it came back as 0.37 LOW RISK. My urologist said "good news" you are LOW RISK and then when asked if I should begin Active Surveilance (AS) he replied "well, you do have a fair amount of cancer in there". While the Decipher results at first were comforting they rely on a huge database of historical genetic info which is compared to your tumor's DNA so it can predict probable future outcomes. This brings to mind Dirty Harry's famous line "...you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?" We all know how that ended. https://youtu.be/abmULTYJJEg The second RO made some good points: 1. a biopsy is really a "blind biopsy" where the doctor may miss a tumor 2. waiting too long on (AS) could allow my (3+4=7) tumor to evolve into a (4+3=7) tumor. Then came the surprise info: I had thought that the radiation would be "targeted" to each tumor, but was told the entire prostate would be radiated!! Who knew? Please provide the link for the series on seeking opinions from radiologists who are experienced in reading prostate MRIs before making a decision on treatment and the link for your other online support group.