Nuclear Medicine Bone Scan

I had a bone scan long time ago - I had weird "bone pain" that nobody could figure out, I was only 32 years old. My doctor decided that bone scan would eliminate bone cancer as diagnosis from the picture and so I had one. I was given a contrast that felt really warm but in a nice way (all over body) and than was put in a scan machine. Scan was over very fast and I could see my skeleton on radiologist's monitor far away in his "safe bubble" glass room and thought - "my bones look so cute" lmao, I would be nice looking dead person one day" XP. Those were thoughts of a 32 year woman with possible bone cancer- what can I tell you ...😵‍💫

That is normally just called a bone scan. It is an older technique for looking for bone metastasis and has been replaced by the PSMA PET scan. I would ask the doctor why a bone scan makes any sense when you’ve already had a PSMA pet scan which shows bone metastasis in much better detail.

If you went to the PCRI conference, you would hear the doctors say that the CT scan and bone scan have been replaced by the PSMA pet scan and are no longer relevant.

Maybe this is an actually a simulation to let the radiation oncologist and physicist plan the exact location and intensity of the radiation you will receive. Those are done before radiation begins I can't imagine why an old fashioned bone scan would be done after you have already had a PSMA PET.

I had a "Nuclear Medicine whole body bone scan" in February. My urologist also ordered a CT scan. I expressed a concern that I might be exposed to too much radiation if I had CT so soon; I was assured it was safe to have both. Thanks Jeff; it's reassuring to know that the scans I went through is the equivalent of the newer "PET scan" -- I have been wondering for a long time why my urologist didn't order that. I guess PET scans are not yet widely done in my area.
@lag Simulation was actually done after my gold seeds implant -- the metallic markers to make the prostate radiation more precise. Each radiation treatment session is preceded by a mini-CT scan, according to my care team, so they can make adjustments as compared to the simulation images. I completed my SBRT in April.

If you have a low PSA, Below .2 for example, The PSMA PET scan may not be able to find anything.

That’s one reason they may do the CT Scan instead, Since they can compare to previous CT scans. The bone scan is highly unreliable.

Thanks Jeff, is it possible this is being ordered for insurance/paperwork/process reasons? I would say that it would be beneficial to see progression with another scan, but as you point out, it’s not as good as the PSMA PET scan so it might be false-negative?