PSMA PET stands for prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography (PSMA PET). It is a sophisticated scan that is much more effective than CT scan or bone scan in detecting the spread of cancer. It picks up micro metastases that they cannot see.
PSMA PET scans are used during diagnosis if there's thought to be a significant risk of spread, but other types of scan haven't found any spread. This is because establishing the presence or absence of spread is critical for selecting a curative or managed treatment pathway.
In practice, you are much more likely to get a PSMA PET scan if you are under the care of a centre which has the capability of doing the scan than if you need to be sent somewhere else for it, because the clinicians there will be far more familiar with its benefits and interpreting the results, and access is easier that arranging to send you somewhere else.
There isn't anywhere near enough provision to make PSMA PET scans routine during diagnosis, and there's often quite a long wait to get one. The tracer production remains an unreliable process, meaning it's common to have to cancel scans just hours before they're scheduled, so those booked for such scans often get contacted on the way there to say it's postponed.
The scans are more often used to find the location of recurrence of cancer after a curative treatment fails.
My husband just going through diagnostic stage and has been told he will have a ct scan with contrast next week to check for spread although he not been properly diagnosed which is confusing me but is that the same as Pmsa pet scan?
The established diagnosis pathway is now PSA then mpMRI, biopsy then depending on Gleason score usually a Bone Scan and sometimes a CT scan.
The relatively new PSMA PET scan can detect small areas of cancer in soft tissue and bone at much lower levels than the other 2 scans (CT and Bone scans) If PMSA PET becomes more established and widely available it may replace the more established scans. I know in Scotland there are 4 NHS centres which offer these newer scans. They are not available in our health Board are the nearest available centre is in Glasgow
Thats my understanding. Others might be able to clarify this and what is available on NHS.
