Ga-68-PSMA-11 PET/CT at UCLA

Thanks Allen. Paul has had a bit of a rough one since I last updated. His PSA dropped to a low of 0.09 Sept 2015 then began to rise back up to 0.36. he made the decision to start taxotere for 6 rounds this fall. He made it through 4 of those at 75% and had two hospitalizations during that time with all kinds of problems including colitis, and is very weak now, and has much more pain in groin area, hips and ribs.

Paul has been told no more chemo period. Held off on scans until he gets a little stronger as only been out of bed a handful of times in the last month, he is in such a weakened state but still has plenty of weight on him (loss of 30 lbs in last month didn't make a dent). He can barely make it to the kitchen.

He still has his prostate so he doesn't qualify for that study.

His PCP feels the cancer is somehow advancing and the PSA isn't indicative of the progression, and his condition seems to be in line with that thought.

He's back in a holding pattern and only on Lupron which has been failing. We aren't sure what to do or where to go.

He never had any of his mets biopsied, did he? It's just a crapshoot, but I've always wondered if he would respond to a somatostatin (eg. octreotide). There is a scan called Octreoscan that can detect such tumors, and it may sometimes be better than an FDG PET scan at picking them up. These, and the fluciclovine PET are all available at Winship/Emory. Did you ever get a consult with David Schuster there to discuss this? He knows more about all the different kinds of scans and which kinds of cancers they can detect than just about anyone in the US.