Has anyone had the PSMA-PET scan? Was cancer found?

I had a PSMA P/CT in Aug with a PSA of 1.2. It confirmed the PCa that was indicated in the previous biopsy in Feb 2022 and CT scan in Mar . Initial PSA was 80. After IMRT and Lupron it went to 1.2. I was very relieved by the PSMA P/CT results as the scan indicated no additional lesions. The scan can be a positive force even if it shows some lesions. These lesions can be attacked accurately and directly at there location.
I am now prescribed Zytiga for 2 years (initiated September 1) and we are optimistic that there will be a remission (or a cure??). PSA is now 0.1 and falling.
Good Luck with your scan.

My PSMA PET did not detect any cancer even though my PSA was 0.5 (six months after surgery). My first PSA three months post-surgery was undetectable. I've started a 6-month course of Eligard and will have 30 sessions of IGRT in about two months. The plan is to radiate the prostate bed and pelvic-lymph nodes.

I had a PSMA PET scan done over a year ago with a PSA of 0.7 3 months after surgery. It showed several lesions, but none were in pelvic floor, all were higher in lymph nodes. None of these were seen in a regular PET or CAT scan. Based on the information I received from the scan lab, and the treatment center, 0.2 seems to be where these start to show up. There is some information if you google "Detection level and pattern of positive lesions using PSMA PET/CT for staging prior to radiation therapy"

I had the scan when my PSA was 1.0. Four pelvic lymph nodes were shown to be cancerous. They were treated with radiation and I began taking Nubeqa. I was already on Lupron. My PSA is now undetectable. The new scan is the reason.

My brother had PSMA/PET last week and yes it showed cancer in prostate and two lymph nodes in low abdomen. It also had uptake in soft tissue of his face by a frontal sinus. We are being told he needs MRI of face and sinuses too will out aberrant diagnosis of meets to sinus. Doing week with all this stuff.

I found this info by following The Prostate Cancer Research Institute on You Tube. They have an excellent question and answer service, semi-annual weekend conferences, and shorter videos covering various topics. I highly recommend it.

Can you advise where these numbers for PSMA/PET sensitivity can be found?

Very helpful information. Dr. Thomas Hope's video was especially

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

Some things are still uncertain.

PSA = or < 0.1 -0.2
Depending how the RP is done, e.g. nerve sparing, could some prostate tissue be left behind? I recall a discussion amongst four urologists on what to do with someone with PSA levels like this. One replied: I always ask the pathologist if they saw the prostate capsule membrane in the prostate that was removed. The implication is if they don't see it, some tissue could remain which might account for the tiny amounts of PSA. The key is looking for rising levels. I don't have enough information to determine if the PSA is rising.

Next: What is the reproducibility of the laboratory's PSA method at such levels? Are 0.04 and 0.09 truly different? I suspect these levels are analytical challenges, You would have to run both specimens in the same assay to be more certain. If the lab runs a QC specimen in this range, the analytical range should be known.

PSMA PET. Mine showed all cancer confined to the prostate. I hope it is true. On the other hand, what do we know about the analytical detection level of a PSMA PET for prostate cells? Perhaps it has been studied; I don't know. This is very new technology. One thing I'm fairly certain of: a negative PSMA PET does not rule out extra capsular disease. It likely only gives you probabilities of disease/disease free, neither of which has likely been established yet.

BTW, I chose radiation rather than RP. That decision too is a bit of a crap shoot as far as disease is concerned.