Does Lupron affect accuracy of MRI or xrays

[Geoff22]

I have advanced prostate cancer. My understanding is that it is more difficult to have accurate scans (MRI, x-Ray, ) while on lupron because the cancer cells are "dormant"

[LearnAll]

Geoff,

Can you tell name of a person on this Earth who does not harbor some dormant cancer cells? Everyone has cancer cells in their body and it only starts becoming a problem when they start dividing fast and start damaging tissue leading to symptoms.

I was just reading a research study which concludes that GA64 PSMA is so supersensitive that other things like scar tissue, inflamed area show as cancer and give false positive results leading to unnecessary over treatment.

Most of the time, these dormant cells lie there harmless and die as their life span ends or if gobbled up by your Lymphocytes and Macrophages.

Its a real challenge to differentiate by scans what is ACTIVE cancer spot and what is scar tissue or plainly inflamed tissue

Scans can not give accurate picture by themselves...you need to combine them with other parameters such as PSA level, ALP level, LDH level, Hemoglobin level, Albumin level , NLR and PLR. And topmost of all..whether you have symptoms and how is your performance level.

A composite picture of all these bio-markers,Scans and performance status can give you some good idea as to whats really going on.

Keeping body healthy and physically strong is important to keep immune system good and capable of killing cancer cells. So, I am tying my ankle and wrist weights and going for a long walk.

[Geoff22 in reply to LearnAll]

Everybody in a cemetery doesn't have cancer. Just joking

[Tall_Allen]

Lupron shrinks prostate cancer tumors, making them harder to find. That is a good thing. As one becomes castration resistant, the tumors grow in spite of the Lupron and will show up on scans.

[cesces]

Most of the better scans work best with a psa level of 2.0 or greater.

If lupron takes you below 2.0 it will impair the results of the scan.

[Break60]

You need to be on systematic treatment with advanced prostate cancer and that makes it difficult for scans to see any lesions . Ironically, you need to take an ADT vacation so psa rises to the level where a ct pet scan will see any visible PCa . But it’s been argued that’s like cutting off your head to spite your face.

But guys ( like me) have stopped ADT , watched their psa quickly increase to close to 2.0 and found oligomets and zapped them with sbrt and gone back on HT. In my case I decided to use estradiol patches since they’re less bothersome and there’s no need for a vacation.

[6357axbz in reply to Break60]

Break, How quickly did your PSA rise to 2 after stopping ADT?

[Break60 in reply to 6357axbz]

See my profile . Doubling in two months.

[westof in reply to Break60]

Hmm... Really helpful reply! I'm meeting with my MSK docs on 2/6 and scans are on my list.

Thanks!

Keep hitting them "long and straight"!

Best,

AJ