If you decide to visit Dr Sean O’Connor on the Sunshine Coast (for an ultrasound) you travel on Jetstar to Maroochydore and back in the same day – fares $89 x 2 at present. 8.20am from Sydney. Hire a car and drive 20 minutes south to Coastal Imaging’s operation in Currimundi, have lunch at the next door shopping arcade and get back on a 6.15pm flight, same day, arriving SYD 7.50pm.

Your GP will give you a referral and the scan costs $336 less about a third from Medicare. If your family is registered for the Medicare Safety Net – the 80% rebate band – it will cost you only $70 + airfares.

Dr O’Connor’s machine will measure blood flow in various parts of the prostate gland and provide a rating (as a Vascularity Index – VI) of the vascularity in that area. Ideal vascularity index is between 6 and 10. A much higher VI indicates blood flow at a level that might indicate it is feeding a cancer.