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Is MRI necessary to distinguish prostate from rectal spacer (SpaceOar) when planning for definitive prostate radiation therapy?

4 Answers
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Radiation Oncology · University of Pennsylvania
Important question given the increasing popularity of the spacer gel!
T2-weighted MR imaging is by far the best way to distinguish prostatic tissue from the hydrogel spacer. It's also a critical tool to assess accurate and high-quality placement of the spacer gel, namely to determine that is...

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Radiation Oncology · Radiation Medical Group

Yes. (Where once I was blind, now I can see .. yup .. it’s as black and White as that ..). That said, if Augmenix just added a touch of contrast material to the “space blob” kit, you’d have nice contrast on CT too ...

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Radiation Oncology · Rwj Saint Barnabas Medical Center

One easy solution to visualize SpaceOAR gel is to use 1cc of contrast to replace 1cc of saline in the Y-applicator prior to injection. You can visualize the contrast on CT for up to 24 hours. Its cost-effective and time effective.

This method has been working out really well on all cases thus far...

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Radiation Oncology · Hospital HIMA San Pablo

After having done my fare share of injections, I have found that adding iodine-based IV contrast into the gel mixture will provide excellent visualization of the gel on CT scan for a couple of days. Usually, I also place Calypso beacons at the same time. I typically obtain a CT-Sim right after the i...

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