Pelvis MRI

My husband will have in 3 weeks Robotic Surgery
for prostate cancer.
He already had bone scan and CT pelvis
That came up negative for metastasis.
His seurgon order Pelvis MRI before seurgery.
What could be the reason of this order if
He already had CT?

Thank you very much for your reply.
Just wonder why he had to go to CT with
radiation if eventually in needs to
have MRI anyway?

Post Edited (Smara) : 11/7/2017 3:48:04 PM (GMT-7)

ask the doctor these questions. Ask him what an MRI tells him that a CT does not.

And to address what may be motivating your question.....yes...ask him directly...."Did you order the MRI for planning the operation or for deciding on *whether* to operate at all?"

or something even more direct....(no softball questions....be as direct and honest as possible)

Lots of surgeons use MRI's for this surgery. The CT may have been ordered for confirmation of benign lesions found on the bone scan. Two areas on my bone scan were looked at more closely with CT's.

not uncommon.....at all

Thank you so much to both.
I checked with the medic center that going to
Preform this test and they told me that it's
Actually going to be MRI Prostate (before surgery),
I don't know why on the order it shows MRI
Pelvis.

MRIs are very bad at staging (like extracapsular extension) and should never be used for that. As of January 1, 2018 it will no longer be officially allowed (although I'm sure many will still use it). It won't tell the surgeon anything he won't see with the help of a pathologist standing by to take frozen sections. That is the thing you want to make sure of.

Apologies to Smara for the OT rant

Gemlin-

Sadly, that is all too true, and everyone shares culpability - patients who insist on unnecessary tests and procedures, doctors who order them and tack on service charges, hospitals and facilities that encourage them and tack on more service charges, insurance companies and Medicare that rubber stamp and pay for them. I always ask, "how much is that going to cost?" and doctors look at me like I just landed from another planet. While "post-truth" was the OED word of the year, I've got to believe that "cost-toxicity" is not far behind.

My surgeon ordered an MRI with endorectal coil and contrast before the procedure. In our first post-op meeting, he said that MRI was extremely helpful when he was excising the prostate.

Smara-
I met the surgeon (30 min) the day before the operation but on the big day I was already anaesthetized when the surgeon entered the surgery room. He visited me in the wake up room (10 min) and then the day after (45 min), before I left the hospital.
Sending the post surgery pathology for a second opinion is not needed and will not change the pathology report. Post surgery, it does not at all require the specific expertise and competence as we need for the biopsy slide readings.

I agree with Gemlin that it's not necessary, especially at a major hospital in a big city. It's only important with biopsy cores.

Smara-
A pathologist can't miss if your pathology is so adverse that you should need immediate adjuvant radiation (ART). Even if there were a doubtful case you would be better of monitor PSA and have salvage radiation (SRT) when PSA is detectable and you see a trend. Your body needs to heal before radiation.

With a biopsy, they try to figure out Gleason score based on narrow cores that sometimes slice through tumors at odd angles. It takes an experienced eye to discern the correct Gleason pattern in those small samples. With post-prostatectomy pathology, they have the entire prostate to look at with all tumors intact - it's easier to get a correct Gleason score because they have so much more to look at.