Scan frequencies

Only once when I was diagnosed.

CT is an X-ray but a bone scan is not. CT scan equals the amount of radiation one receives from natural sources in seven years. It should only be used when necessary. Your PSA is so low it is unlikely anCT scan would show anything so why do it?

I had three CT's in one month this past summer, and two more a month later. None were related to PCa, but yes, I'm a bit concerned about the radiation exposure. But two of the first three have led to surgeries that were fairly important. The adjuvant RT a year after my RP seems to have caused more damage than anything else. But then again, only time will tell.

First two CT's were of my brain and my eyes. The brain was okay... that's good to know. The scan of my eyes revealed a bone deformity at the base of my skull which hadn't been a problem until the flesh of my face began to sag with age, making it difficult to breathe. I'd had a septoplasty a year ago that actually made things worse because the surgeon didn't know about the bone deformity. So I am having a revision septoplasty next month to correct he bone deformity and insert two splints to support my cheeks. Not easy to explain. But surgery #1 is basically a second, more invasive septoplasty.

Oddly enough, it was an ophthalmologist that ordered the scans and started me on 60mg prednisone last July. The steroid brought on some painful attacks that my GP thought might be pancreatitis and ordered an abdominal CT. It revealed a mass in my small bowel mesentery. All stuff I'd never heard of before. My gastroenterologist suspected a carcinoid or neuroendocrine tumor. I spent a week at a cancer center trying to identify the nature of this mass. I had two octreoscans, a nuclear medicine scan similar to a bone scan. Each included a full body CT scan.

The scans were inconclusive and the mass had to be surgically removed as it could not be biopsied due to the blood vessels in the area. That surgery was a bowel resection last October, when about 10% of my small intestine was removed along with the mass, which was about the size of a baseball. That was a pretty serious surgery, lost a lot of blood and couldn't eat for a week. Still anemic and have frequent diarrhea. I don't know the medicaleze name for the small bowel resection... laparotomy I think. Left a big scar down the middle of my belly.

Your assumption sounds valid. I would think that known bone mets would change the whole picture. I tried to get a follow up DEXA scan because the Lupron is still keeping my testosterone around 10, but was told it hadn't quite been two years yet. Apparently it's a medicare thing.

My wife gets a CT every six months since her primary bone lymphoma went into remission two years ago, and we are anxious for her onc to switch her to annual scans... not so much for fear of the radiation but because of the hassle and anxiety that each one causes.