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There are men on other sites who swear by color doppler sonogram. I am sure these men have had individual good experiences, but not so sure that their experience can be generalized.. My search finds no confirmation that clolor doppler is better than gray scale. Does anyone have any insight on this issue?
I can’t quote you chapter and verse, but I can give you my views on this issue, views developed over the 14 years of observation since my diagnosis.
The first point is that prostate cancer is a business – and we should never lose sight of that. It isn’t some great warm, fuzzy group of do-gooders helping humanity. It is a very large and very prosperous industry turning over billions of dollars a year. As Dr Willet Whitmore memorably said "There are more people making a living from prostate cancer than there are dying from it." It is also populated by conservative people who can take a very long time to change their views (unless there is a clear financial motivation, which can and does sped things up dramatically).
Against this background the Color Doppler systems can be viewed in two lights. Cynically, by giving more information, it may reduce the number of unnecessary procedures, both biopsy and therapy, because it can, according to those who use it, identify more accurately the nature of any atypical cells than other scans. This would reduce income. On the other hand the use of the equipment requires more training and investment which might not generate a suitable return.
As far as I know there are less than a dozen institutions in the USA using the Color Doppler system. The most well known are Bard in New York, Lee in Rochester, Dattoli in Florida (Miami I think) and Bahn in Ventura. These men have certainly demonstrated time and again a degree of accuracy in identifying areas that need further investigation which the regular scans may miss. There is not much literature on the subject and most of the information is from the experiences of men who have used the services.
As a matter of interest there is another scan that is, by repute even better than the Color Doppler system and that is the Combidex system. Leading oncologists like Strum and Myers swear by it and even recommended that men should go to Europe to have the Combidex scans because the FDA would not approve the procedure. No one is able to establish why this is – but cynics have a view. Whatever the reason is, the machinery will no longer be produced and prostate cancer men will have lost what seems to be a valuable addition to the armoury.
Don’t know if this helps, Joey, but if you look at some of the stories from men who have used the Color Doppler and perhaps correspond with them – use the SITE SEARCH ENGINE – you will gain some further insight
There are various studies on CDU and some show a definate advantage and others show no advantage. Since reading CDU is very skill and experience dependent it is more important in who is doing the color doppler than the equipment itself.
I had 13 biopsies (over 150 cores) and an MRIS all negative. I finally had a color doppler and it showed something suspicious and was sent to Dr Bahn, the expert. Dr Bahn took 3 biopsy samples and they were all positive, G7. Am I now a true beliver? you bet I am. I also had the Combidex that Terry mentioned and it was clear for lymphnode pc, but verified the tumor that Dr Bahn found. 5 doctors over 10 years told me I had BPH and not pc. The color doppler probably saved my life as Dr Bahn said that if I would have had another 13 biopsies they still wouldn't have hit it.
JT
