Friday, November 5, 2021

PSMA PET/CT Results Are In

The state of the art PSMA Scan results are in and they're not particularly surprising. So let's just get right to it shall we?




A brief explanation of the technology is in order I think because it is so new. Prostate cancer cells give off a certain antigen that can be tracked by certain radio tracers. This scan can show lesions under a millimeter in size. Unlike other scans, PCa cells simply can't hide from this scan.  And they didn't. 

The good news first. There seems to be no evidence of bone metastasis which truly is good news because cancer in the bones is one of the most painful cancers one can have and it's typically where PCa metastasizes to first. Never having been one to follow tradition or what everybody else is doing, I've kept my metastasis out of my bones so far. And I am truly grateful for that.

Now the not so good news. The report states that:

FINDINGS:
 
Index lesions:
1. Right upper lung: 2.3 cm (1 inch +/-),
2. Ill-defined lesion in the left hepatic lobe:
3. Left supraclavicular node: 2.7 cm,
4. Heterogenous left pelvic nodal mass

IMPRESSION:
 
Patient has numerous pelvic, retroperitoneal, hepatic and pulmonary metastases, some which demonstrate high radiotracer uptake and some which demonstrate uptake below the level of the liver.

In a nutshell, the PCa has metastasized again to the lungs, but now also to the liver, organs such as the duodenum and a portion of the rectum as well as lymph nodes both in the pelvis and in the neck area. And it's advanced rather quickly.

There are options. I could go back on hormone deprivation, suffer all the wretched side effects but probably live a bit longer. There's also a treatment based on this same PSMA scan technology and that sounds quite promising.

But the bottom line is that shit just got real.

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