Gallium PSMA PET scan

[Schelley]

Can anyone tell me how I could get my husband a PSMA PET scan. Or where? How much it cost if insurance won’t cover? He has to have radiation as he had a prosectemy 2 years ago and his PSA is rising pretty fast. All of the info that I get is that he won’t be referred unless his PSA is 2 at least. Now it is .111 but going up fast. I can’t bear him to go through radiation as the dr says they are basically “shooting in the dark”.

[Tall_Allen]

He would still have to have salvage radiation to his entire prostate bed. The open question is whether he needs to have all of his pelvic lymph nodes irradiated as well, and whether adjuvant ADT is required. They have to treat what you can't see.

He can get a Ga-68-PSMA-11 scan at UCLA for about $2700. Insurance won't cover it - it is experimental. He might be able to get a DCFPyL scan at Stanford for free when his PSA hits 0.2. He can get an Axumin scan almost anywhere and covered by insurance when his PSA hits 0.2.

[Schelley in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thank you so much! I am just beginning our Journey. Your response answered so many questions. The ga-68-PSMA-11 would definitely be worth the $2700.

[Fairwind in reply to Schelley]

The big question is will your husband live longer because of it ?

[Schelley in reply to Fairwind]

He definitely will if the scan can pinpoint the site that needs radiated.

[cesces in reply to Schelley]

If it has gone metastatic, probably you need a more global treatment than targeted radiation.

If so, maybe an auximin scan isn't the worst thing in the world.

Tall Allen what do you say about this? Just how beneficial to treatment decisions are these higher resolution scans?

[Hidden]

According to the following Heidelberg paper:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/284...

and assuming that your husband is 65y old, had a GS >= 7b (4+3) and his PSADT is 6-12 months, the probability for a positive PSMA detection is:

~50% at PSA = 0.11

~54% at PSA = 0.2

[j-o-h-n]

Greeting Mr. and Mrs. Schelley,

It would be helpful if you can give us some more background regarding Mr. Schelley's Pca.

Information such as: Age? Location?, Psa and Gleason scores? Treatments to date? Treatment center(s)? Doctor's name(s)?

All info is voluntary but it helps us help him and helps us too.

Thank you. If you respond please do so on a future date and not directed to me.

Keep on fighting!!!

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Friday 09/27/2019 6:42 PM DST

[xpbdb]

I am going to get a Ga-68 PSMA scan at UCSF in a few weeks. It is a clinical trial so you have to meet their criteria. Medicare will pay for the scan, but not the isotope - about $800.

[Concernedwife24]

So what did the scan show and what did you do after that? Did it change your initial plan?