I questioned my oral surgeon here in Manitoba about the use of PETS vs CT'S and he is not a fan of pet scans due to the number of false positives. I am sure it is an issue of some debate, but I know the American system almost exclusively uses PETS while we use CT'S. I don't know if there is a cost difference in the scans, but certainly if there is - that would be a cost that the US doctors would be recovering from their patients or insurance companies. My doctor also said that they tend to use the MRI's pre surgery to define the depth and breadth of the cancerous area - not necessarily as a diagnostic tool.

Would be interesting to hear the forum's thoughts on this.

Donna