MRI Claustrophobia

JR,

Welcome to the board, but is this the correct forum for you? I hope not.

So far you haven't been diagnosis with prostate cancer yet. Surely the symptoms could imply such and you doing well in investigating what are causing urine retention. The MRI is great but you could have a simple CT to check local deformations. It wouldn't be as detailed as the MRI but could be sufficient to check the issues you describe above.

In fact, retention due to any squeeze of the urethra is usually related to hyperplasia (BPH) not cancer. BPH is also linked to an increased PSA, but the values of your tests are not that high to rule it in a 70 years old man. No doubts that the ultimate way to verify a cancer case is via a biopsy, and I would recommend you to do it as it will give you peace of mind. Multiparametric MRI and PET scans can provide a good judgment for the possibility in having cancer but it doesn't substitute the analysis of prostate specimen under the microscope by a pathologist.

I had several MRI at diagnosis and thereafter and never felt claustrophobia until one day when my wife accompanied me to the clinic. She is highly claustrophobic in small places and that made me to image what she would experience if inserted into a cylinder like the MRI. Suddenly I also felt strange and uncomfortable. My strategy since then was to have the MRI in open ended machines, where I can stretch deep in the cylinder keeping my arms up and head a little out in the back. I close my eyes when rolled in and use always two towels to cover the arms as it gets very cold in the MRI room.
Yes, I wonder about the clinic of your MRI as typically the room is kept at very low temperature to cold down the machine, but you say that you experienced high heat ("sweating like a pig").

Best wishes,

VGama