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I had a Combidex MRI for Lymph node involvement in Holland last week. The Combidex MRI is a new imaging system that has a 96% effectiveness in detecting PC in Lymph nodes. CT scans and prostascint have very poor detection rates.
It's a two day process, 1st day an IV of iron oxide nano particles is given then the 2nd day an MRI is taken of the lymphatic system. The good lymph nodes take up the iron oxide particles and the cancerous nodes won't let the particles in.
I received a disk containing 1512 pictures of my insides and a 3D video of my lymphatic system showing all the good nodes in green and one node in yellow. The yellow was a suspicious node that has a very high probability of being clear.
Without this information I would have radiated my pelvic area because of the high risk of lymph node involement ( my PSA was 40). If cancerous lymph nodes are detected then they can be individually targeted for radiation or surgery.
The sampling of lymph nodes during surgery is considered the gold standard, but recent data has shown that up to 40% of cancerous nodes can be missed by sampling because only one lymph path is sampled and there's a 40% chance that the other path is infected when the first one is clear.
Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen NL is the only place in the world that this test is given. The cost is 1900 Euros.
Dr Jelle Barentsz, a well respected radioligist oncologist developed this procedure for PC and has done about 1000 Combidex MRIs in the past 3 years.
JohnT
Hi John saw your post here (also), suggest you tell others too the differences in the endorectal coil MRIS (cost and results) vs. the Combidex method.
Dr. Strum one of the leading oncologists had mentioned a few years ago that this scanning method is the best one that we have available to people. Amazing the number of photos and a video, too. Considering the price over there like $2500, what a bargain in the world of PCa.
MRIS with endo rectal coil cost $4700 at UCSF last year. I asked Dr Barentsz why it didn't pick up my tumor and he said it was a Telsa 1.5 machine and could not see transition zone tumors very well. You need at least a Telsa 3 machine to see anything worthwhile. Also CT scans can't see PC. They only see enlarged lymph nodes over 10mm and assume they are infected. Prostascint or other PET scans are also not effective in identifying PC as the isotopes have a hard time joining with PC cells. They have no problem joining with other cancers like Breast and Melonoma. He said that they have tried various methods to ID PC with PET scans and have had little sucess to date.
JohnT
Thanks for these posts, John. Very interesting indeed.
When I read that a PET machine had been installed in a local hospital here in Melbourne, I tried to get a scan on the basis of a couple of studies I had read which implied a better result than the ineffectual MRI and CT scans.
Because it is new, there is something of a queue for the scans and it is only possible to have one with a recommendation from a medical specialist. My oncologist declined on the basis that for PCa the results were no better than other scans - and more difficult to interpret!
