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Strange Bone scan result

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Posted 3/9/2017 1:43 PM (GMT -5)
Some of you may be familiar with my father´s story. He was diagnosed 6 years ago with metastatic prostate cancer. In the beginning, there were some oddities about his cancer, such as, that the first pathologist diagnosed it with Gleason 6 (to be debunked by an expert German prostate pathologist who found Gleason 4 in all the biopsy samples), that his PSA was only 7.5 at the time of diagnosis, but his bone scan showed 2 hot spots on his spine and pubic bone.

It all pointed to an aggressive cancer. What last 6 years have shown us, is that this "aggressive" cancer has let my Dad live a complete and full life, while still being hormone responsive. And now the latest bone scan. Let me give you a history of his bone scans (from memory):

1st: VL5, pubic bone
2nd: pubic bone
3rd: VL5, pubic bone, sacrum

and the forth (yesterday): right shoulder

No other focus. He is not taking any medication at the moment except Zometa. The radiologist wrote that the shoulder was most likely degenerative disease.

What should we make of this? It almost makes no sense. I wonder, Dad said he waited 4 and a half hours from being injected to scan, I wonder if this is normal, I seem to recall men reporting here they got scanned within 2 hrs of the injection. I wonder if somehow the radioisotope can loose its effectivness with time. At any rate, we are still so proud of him facing these multitudes of tests and his disease with such stamina and courage (actually, he doesn´t seem worried at all), but of course, I would just like to understand what this all means.

Thanks...
Posted 3/9/2017 5:18 PM (GMT -5)
Perhaps the metastases disappeared over time and the radiologist suggests that the shoulder issue is due to old age.

Hopefully my speculation is worth considering.
Posted 3/9/2017 5:36 PM (GMT -5)
You may be right that they waited too long. Did the CT of those previous noted areas show that the bone overgrowth is still there? He can get a NaF PET.
Posted 3/9/2017 6:54 PM (GMT -5)
What type of scan was it? Traditional?
Posted 3/9/2017 7:14 PM (GMT -5)
special Lady,
To read that your Dad has such a great attitude does a lot to his well being. It also says a lot about you and your support for him. Hang in there one day at a time.
Posted 3/9/2017 11:01 PM (GMT -5)
It was never a met...hows that??... What it all means is that the medical system works in mysterious ways...never to be understood by mere mortals "Go home to your wives and children...the'll be no hanging tonight"...
Posted 3/10/2017 12:26 AM (GMT -5)

Bololidat said...
It was never a met.....

my thinking the whole time i've been reading this. When one guy calls multiple mets.....who wouldn't ??? strong words. colors thinking...


2nd guy wasn't a sheep....I mean....didn''t fall for it.....DIDN"T SEE IT

neither did the most recent


btw & fwiw if spots and irregularities and "possible metastic....etc"s were mets....I"d be dead
Posted 3/10/2017 6:32 AM (GMT -5)
@SrSailor I hope that that is exactly the case

@Allen He never had a CT scan, only MRI that showed something on his pubic bone at the time. My brother said he would contact a radiologist he knows to ask the question about the optimal time for scanning after the injection.

@Jerry, yes he had a traditional bone scan. He lives in a place in Europe where some of these modern scanning techniques are not available, sure I could bring him to Germany and search for one, but then I ask myself, what the purpose would be....Good to see you here.

@ThomasJohn, thanks so much. My brother, who was with him said, that as usual he kept entertaining some of the people waiting for bone scintigraphy, to the point that they were smiling, laughing and talking openly.

@Bolo, island, I would lie if I said that this did not cross my mind. I wish it would be true. Without a biopsy we will not know. But this last scan sure speaks to that theory. Island, glad you are still around!
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