November is Mens’ Health Month, an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impact of prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention. During the month of November to help change the face of men’s health, we are supporting men’s health by growing a Mo and accepting donations on behalf of the Movember movement.
Did you know that prostate cancer is the most common non-cutaneous cancer diagnosed in Australian Men? It accounts for 30% of all new cancer diagnoses and about 1 in 5 men will get prostate cancer at some point in their life.
Our team provides a comprehensive imaging service for patients who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. This includes MRI, Nuclear Medicine, CT, and Ultrasound. With the new Medicare updates most prostate MRI scans can now be bulk billed with a specialist referral.
In patients with clinical concern, such as elevated PSA levels, MRI creates a detailed picture of the prostate (and the surrounding tissues) to help diagnose prostate cancer and target biopsy. This scan can also be used to show if the cancer has spread from the prostate to nearby areas.
A Nuclear Medicine bone scan can detect if prostate cancer has spread to your bones. This scan uses a tiny amount of radioactive dye which collects in areas of abnormal bone growth. Your body is scanned with a machine that detects the dye and larger amounts of dye will show areas of bone with cancer cells. The scan is painless, and the dye passes from your body in a few hours.
CT (computed tomography) creates detailed images of the inside of the body and is used to show if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or organs such as the lungs, liver, or kidneys. A contrast dye is used to improve the sensitivity of the scan for early metastatic disease.
Prostate cancer often grows slowly, and even the more aggressive cases of prostate cancer tend to grow more slowly than other types of cancer. Compared with other cancers, prostate cancer has one of the highest five-year survival rates if diagnosed early.
