Don

Reading your post, it may not be apparent just how much better Petscans need to become for oral cancers. The current National Cancer Institute points out: [quote]However, PET scans are more accurate in detecting larger and more aggressive tumors than they are in locating tumors that are smaller than 8 mm and/or less aggressive.[/quote] That's a generality, like your statistics which I don't think are accurate when you focus on oral cancer. The numbers I have seen show a Petscan has a false positive rate ranging from 21% to 30% for base of tongue and almost 40% for tonsillar cancer. So for BOT and tonsil cancer, IMO, their success rates are only 60 to 70%. They seem to work great for tumors of the larynx but my CCC docs and Nuclear medicine guys all felt that for BOT, Petscans are not optimal to check for recurrence but very valuable in initial radiation planning to minimize radiation damage and mid TX evaluation.
Charm