Re: MRI as a Screening Tool?

January 5, 2008

What I can tell you is that a very knowledgeable and respected doctor

at Loma University Medical Center recommended that I have an MRI

Spectroscopy with Endorectal Coil as a means of " better localizing the

cancerous foci, assess the volume of tumor in the gland, and provide

better specificity to MRI findings; " this was used in determining if

there was evidence that my cancer had escaped the capsule. Previous CT

and Bone Scans were negative, but we know they are not the best

indicators.

The results were used to determine if I was to receive Proton only, or

a combo of Proton and Photons to the Pelvic area (if the findings were

positive). I was already on a four month Lupron shot. My PSA when dx

was 5.0, and my initial GS was 8, later downgraded to 4+3=7, so still

fairly aggressive. The results were negative for spread, and I had

proton only, but did have another one-month Lupron shot during proton

therapy.

So it seems to me that MRI with special qualifications may be used in

particular situations to clarify PCa spread.

Fuller

>

> Can an MRI examination be used as a screening tool when the patient

has high PSA

> numbers and a negative biopsy? I have been reading the postings to

this group for

> months now. I know the importance of an early detection. I also

know that biopsies can

> miss. While MRI examinations are used after a positive biopsy, I

don't read of any cases

> where a patient with consistent elevated PSA readings and negative

biopsies then

> undergoes an MRI for the discovery of the cancer. How come? What am

I missing?

>

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