PSMA Scan

stew80, the $ 5k is a US price. I bet Canada is kinder.

I haven't checked it out here yet, but $5K US is >$7K Canadian. Ouch.

Apparently, some provinces do allow private imaging and biopsy clinics (controversial under the Canada Healthcare Act, which prohibits private alternatives to public medical services, but the feds haven't taken the provinces to task yet). Alberta and Ontario don't allow them, but B.C. and Quebec have a couple. So if you did go private, best see if there's a clinic in Vancouver you could use.

Exactly what I've seen. I did contact a clinic in Ontario that could do a biopsy in early January. Robert Nam, MD FRCSC Professor of Surgery University of Toronto. I didn't follow up yet. I thought something closer. Haven't looked at what Vancouver can offer yet.

stew80,
In my experience, PCa and all the diagnostics and procedures has been a test of patience. Nine weeks isn't considered a long wait in the prostate cancer world. As mentioned by others, you could ask to be put on a cancellation list.

Also, technically you haven't been diagnosed with cancer yet! Try to enjoy life, as you collect information. The nine weeks will go by fast. Try not to worry about metastasis. Also, my experience with the biopsy was nowhere near as painful as I had read some others have experienced.

Best wishes

I had a PET/CT scan at a private clinic in Burnaby, BC at the Initio Nuclear Medicine Clinic. I'm thinking this may somewhat similar to PSMA/Pet scan as they used Ga68-PMSA-11 contrast dye.

Websites: https://initiomedical.ca/bookings/
https://initiomedical.ca/
Address:
#300 - 3185 Willindon Green
Burnaby, BC V5G 4P3
email - info@initionmedical.ca
(604) 678-9274, toll free (888) 978-9115

Everything was paid for: the scan, transport to/from Vancouver Island, hotel, and meals. BC Cancer covered all the expenses. The PET picked up a single lymph node which has since been radiated.

While there, I chatted with a person who was paying for his scan. He told me the amount. I forget what he quoted, but it seemed to be a bit more than the $3,200 CAD indicated on the Initio website.

Edit: Wifey sez the person paying for his scan was charged $3600. Also, I did indeed have a PSMA/Pet, according to the Initio website - see the annotation with the $3,200 cost.

@northoftheborder
Would you say that the U.S. health care is better than Canada? I hope that question is okay on MCC. Since you live there and deal with it the question allows feedback that deals with it versus just hearing what news media reports.

Lot of discussion out there about U.S. going to government run health care and being free. What most of americans who are not on Medicare is that Medicare is NOT FREE. There is a deductible that must be met and then a 20% co-pay. A lot of services are not covered by Medicare.

What I see and read is the U.S. system is far superior. When you mention mental health is not in equation that bothers me as mental health has a profound affect on both physical and mental health.

Waiting for a biopsy for any extended length of time to me would cause mental health issues with anxiety and stress that needs to be addressed and considered. I was lucky with my biopsies as actually gave me a very quick appointment.

What I did not like was delay from biopsies until treatment until I read there was a general delay from biopsy date and when radiation would start to give prostate time to recover from the trauma of biopsies. I had Markers done and again a delay but reading again was built in to help prostate recover from the markers before radiation was started.

That's a good question, but I agree it's maybe too controversial for the public board. I will reply in detail privately.

Here, I'll just say that living in a big Ontario city, I personally have had world-class cancer treatment with no co-pays or long waits. Ditto when there were concerns about my heart, bladder, etc — I got taken fast. I also get my quarterly blood-test results (including uPSA) in 2–3 hours.

But if I needed a knee replacement, I'd have to wait a few months because it's "elective" rather than critical care.

As a Canadian I agree with north... Other than drugs which are covered by many plans, tests, procedures, specialists, hospital stays, doctor visits, etc. we do without thinking about the personal costs to us as patients because it's part of what we are used to with universal health care. The waits for non- emergency or elective procedures are longer than USA for sure but general health care in Canada doesn't hit a patient's pocketbook per se. We pay of course through taxes etc. , but we don't have to wonder if our particular insurance will cover this or that test? or is the doctor I want covered in my plan? Conversely, in the USA if you have all the coverage (albeit expensive) the response for medical treatments is probably much quicker. Neither system is perfect by any means.

Well, I live in the USA and at Kaiser in Northern California. It takes 6 to 7 months to get a knee replaced same thing with hip replacement. I was able to get my knee replaced in three months in March because people had canceled and I was able to get into their spot. Last year, hip replacement took six months to get it done. If I wasn’t at Kaiser, I could get it done quicker, But they have much better free treatment after that surgery. A PT shows up at your house within Two days and you get biweekly visits. Something you don’t get, if you get treatment outside of Kaiser

I needed to have surgery on a cyst on my face and it was a 2.5 month wait. It started getting bigger, so I finally decided to get it removed, not so fast dude!!!!

One major difference Is that there are many more treatments for cancer than in Canada? There are also tests that are approved here that are not approved in Canada.