gleason 3+4, Bone scan normal?

[Trumponerous]

My poor DH has been told today he has prostate cancer, gleason score 3+4, PSA 4.8, aged late 50s. He had an MRI and a DRE. Can anyone tell me if the NHS routinely then do a bone scan or has something specific triggered the referral for one. The nurse giving results said it was given to everyone with a 7 but the NHS website seems to disagree.

This is so very hard, I know 3+4 is relatively good but not if the bones are affected.

Sorry just to answer your specific question - at the hospital where my husband is treated everyone with a Gleason 7+ has a bone scan as a matter of course.

We also personally know two other men - one with Gleason 7, one with Gleason 8. One had a psa of 6 and one had psa of 9. Neither had any spread and both have been successfully treated.

Hi dahliaaa. I am sorry your DH got picked up so late. Thank you for taking time to help me X

There has to be a better screening process than there currently is. My husband with no symptoms at all and a low PSA has already got "perineural invasion" within the prostate. 3 years ago a PSA test and DRE found nothing so it isn't always as slow as is sometimes suggested.

I feel reassured that the bone scan is routine but I think the anxiety won't lessen until some of the actual treatment is behind us. Our GP didn't help by telling DH that he has a tough year ahead! One day at a time at the moment though.

My dad has a gleason score of 7, he didn't have a bone scan. He was given the choice of removal or radiotherapy, he opted for the surgery and is now 3 weeks post op. We are now waiting for the pathology results, due in another 3 weeks.

Hi RunwayQueen I hope your dad is recovering well.

The meeting with consultant was frustrating. After being assured the bone scan result would be in and the Multi disciplinary meeting would take place prior to our consultation the first thing the rather old school arrogant consultant said was that the bone scan result wasn't in. Our whole stress and focus was on whether the cancer had spread so our stress levels were through the roof. So I queried whether the meeting had taken place , apparently it had. But it does raise the question as to how useful it may have been without the full picture. But we proceeded on the basis of no spread as it turns out the mpMRI had in fact shown no spread to lymphs or seminal vesicles (why hadn't we been told this a week earlier when those results were available to the person giving us the Gleason score? ).

And how the consultant handled the meeting was atrocious, actually tutting at my (not so much my DH's) questions, telling me not to interrupt even though he left absolutely no pause time between his monologues. Even the other 2 attending nurses didn't get to speak (but our non verbal exchanges told a whole story) Arrrrgh.

Hi OP our first meeting with a consultant was horrendous. Bearing in mind that we didn’t even know that DH had cancer at that stage his opening words were :
‘Well obviously it’s cancer and it’s spread so we can’t cure it. We can offer some treatment though.’

He was terse, had no time for questions and showed not an ounce of empathy. Obviously that news was always going to be terrible but he made it so much worse.

Thankfully everyone else we have seen since has been the complete opposite. Sometimes matter of fact yes - but always professional and understanding.

Really good that everything pointing to no spread.

Oh dahliaa that is shocking. I sort of hope it's the same man it would be awful if there were more like this. I have since discovered an acquantance in my DH's situation with the exact same opinion of this individual, which echoes yours in your case . My DH is giving "feedback" to the department. We've had quite a few "bad news" meetings in our time and how it is delivered matters a lot.

With us too most of the people we deal with are great. I bet they are mortified to witness poor practise and powerless to do anything about it.

Thank you for reading and commenting. We still have no on-the-record confirmation of no spread but are feeling more confident with another verbal reassurance.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience but glad it was good news. Was one of the nurses present a cancer nurse specialist? Do you have her contact number? They’re usually fantastic for support and advice.

They were indeed Take and she made a point of waylaying us in the corridor afterwards and finding an empty room so our unanswered questions would be answered. We do have her number and have spoken since as well.

Great that you have the specialist nurse number. Hope you get everything joined up soon.