I haven't been here for a while, but in going over some of the forums, it felt like I was "coming home" again! My son is one of the "obstinate" ones in that after his treatment ended he never wanted to go back for check-ups. Things improved in many ways for him, after being out of work with no health insurance, divorce proceedings, big bills, he now has a great job, health insurance and a wonderful girlfriend. But he is still obstinate. Five months ago he had pneumonia, with pleurisy and doctor said that after the pneumonia was over, he wanted him to get a CT scan to make sure there was no cancer. I couldn't talk him into it. And now, he finally agreed to go and the doctor is setting up an appointment for him because of a "small spot" on his lung, and will call on Tuesday to tell him when. (I think my son's girlfriend may have done some convincing, bless her!) I'm back to stressed out worrying and wondering now, whether there could be a specific reason why a CT scan is recommended rather than a PET scan? Since he had very aggressive tx for the cancer, is it something to be expected for the cancer to reappear someplace else, like the lung?

The CT scan can detect action in/on the lungs. The pet scan is more of a full body scan. Most of the time oral cancer, when it spreads, is likely to go to the lungs so perhaps thats why they are recommending it. Personally I would go with both

PET scans simply measure sugar intake and give many false positives for cancer with an exceptionally high error rate for tongue cancer. CT scans are fine for initial identification of cancer and in fact it was a CT scan that first identified my base of tongue cancer.
CT scans are so reliable that even if a CCC orders a PET scan, they almost always combine it with a CT scan.
I know from personal experience just how horrible it is when a PET scan goes wrong and indicates Cancer when it's just sugar intake from healing tissues. Perhaps your son's doctors have had similar experiences so are being cautious.
Charm

Its nice to hear your son has made such a great recovery from OC. But I am sorry to hear he is being obstinate. Cancer is a scary thing and oral cancer's treatments are horrendous. Most of us want to forget the whole ordeal ever happened.

It is common for an oral cancer patient to have mets to the lungs. I do not know the stats. Sadly, Ive seen it on here many times.

Personally I prefer the CT scans for exactly what Charm mentioned, the false positives of the PET.

Another reason CT comes before the PET is cost. From what I was told a couple years ago when the hospital wanted me to sign a form saying if my insurance company doesnt pay for the PET then I will. I think the quote was about $1400. I refused to sign the form, when the appointment was made for me this form was never mentioned. The office said without the form, they wouldnt do the PET. In the end, I had the PET and the form was not signed.

Glad he is being checked out. Best wishes for good results.

My doctors have stayed with the CT scans the whole way. I never had a PET.

This was very helpful CT vs Pet scan. I always wondered why I never had a Pet scan & felt a little left out. Now I know I have nothing to feel bad about!

Thanks so much for all the great and helpful replies. It's so comforting to be reminded how much people care. We had 4th July celebration at my house and it was great seeing what good friends my son has. And it kept me busy, too so that was good. I'm trying to concentrate on a positive outcome with the CT scan but if the cancer has mets to the lungs, I think my son is in better shape to handle it than he was when he had the tongue cancer. I'm going online, too, to see what I can find out about lung cancer.

Time to exhale! Just found out that the "spot" on my son's lung was scar tissue (from recent pneumonia experience) and he doesn't have to go back to the Dr until September to get an Xray. The CT Scan was on last Thursday and now its Tuesday. Five days of extreme anxiety and a very large part of what kept me going were the great people here on OCS. Thank you soooooooooooooooo much!

Woohoo!! Great news. So glad to hear.

Anne-Marie, congrats on the great news. So happy your sons test turned out to be only scar tissue. Thanks for checking back in with the good news.