HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

MRI shows thickening of tissue?

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 6/11/2013 2:45 PM (GMT 0)
Just got results from PET/BONE scan! The pet/ bone showed no mets! The MRI showed no lymph node involvement! They said I have a thickening of skin in the area of where my seminal vessels were and my positive margin! They said its probably cancer left behind after surgery! They have me on HT to weeken the cancer and then In two months they plane on zapping the pelvic and that area with radiation! What does this mean and do you think this sounds about right?
Posted 6/11/2013 4:40 PM (GMT 0)
Congratulations on no detected distant mets. I'm sorry to hear they have to clean up what was left behind. That's pretty standard salvage radiation treatment - it seems like around 70 Gy of IMRT is optimal, probably with a boost to suspicious areas. Whether hormone therapy helps with a dose-escalated radiation for a Gleason 3+4 is controversial. Your doctors are being prudent.

Did you have an ordinary 1.5 Tesla MRI without an endorectal coil? What you described is about as much as they can see with that.
Posted 6/11/2013 4:42 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry you need to deal with that. Yes, it sounds like the standard protocol to deal with any PC that escaped the knife.

A bunch of our guys have gone through that.

Here's hoping that this knocks out what still might be there.

All the best,
Andrew
Posted 6/11/2013 4:49 PM (GMT 0)
Tallallen

I'm not sure what MRI they did! I can find out! Why is that an issue! Sorry I'm not as educated as u guys are yet!
Posted 6/11/2013 5:00 PM (GMT 0)
49er,

Your treatment plan sounds a lot like mine. The radiation isn't particularly bad -- it is a bit of a grind but is nowhere acutely unpleasant. And it does have good chances of recovering the curative intent of your surgery.

If you had had the endorectal coil with your MRI you would remember it.
Posted 6/11/2013 5:05 PM (GMT 0)
It was a f18 MRI that all I know!
Posted 6/11/2013 5:12 PM (GMT 0)
It was a f18 bone pet and my better half said it was the tesla 3 MRI
Posted 6/11/2013 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
F18 bone PET is pretty sensitive, so that should make you feel better that it found nothing. 3 Tesla is more sensitive than 1.5 Tesla, so that's good too. They can increase it's sensitivity by shoving an endorectal coil up there to focus the magnetic field around your prostate area. With that and some other fancy detection techniques they can sometimes see the actual cancer and not just the thickening. Some radiologists can even detect the cancer grade that way. It probably doesn't matter much for you, I think, because they'll give you the same radiation plan no matter what level of detail they see. The important thing is adequate dose to kill the bugger.
Posted 6/11/2013 5:54 PM (GMT 0)
Tall Allen,

Thanks for the clarification on the types of MRIs that can be performed.  I go in on Monday for an MRI and planning CT in preparation for SRT that is scheduled to start in July.  I will have to ask my doc what type of MRI he is doing, just for my own knowledge.  He's very well respected for my area so I hope I don't rub him the wrong way when I start asking for details on the type of MRI he is doing and why.

And good luck to you, 49yrsold.  Our post-op pathologies have a lot in common, including a positive margin and EPE.  I hope things turn out well for the both of us.

Posted 6/11/2013 6:12 PM (GMT 0)
John,

I've found that most doctors love to talk about what they do -- just like the rest of us. He'll probably be glad you're taking an interest in something he cares so much about that he's devoted his career to it. Don't be afraid to ask challenging questions -- he's heard them all before. It's part of his job to be completely forthcoming about your diagnosis and treatment. Perhaps some less competent doctors who can't justify what they are doing may feel threatened, but the really good ones shouldn't be.

I write all my questions down before I go in so I don't forget anything -- I always write their answers down too- and bring someone with me for another set of ears to catch whatever I miss.


- Allen
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply