The only thing I will add to what Gary posted is that our ENT and RO are comfortable with PET/CT scans under following conditions:

1) It is a *fused* PET/CT

2) The first one is given no sooner than 3 months after end of treatment, to allow maximum healing to take place and for inflammation to reduce.

3) It is done at a center where they do a lot of head and neck cancer scans

4) It is read by a radiologist that has read many of these scans and has a good feel for what is cancer and what is not. (We asked Barry's radiologist (at Hopkins) and he told us he only does HNC and brain cancer scans and has seen 100s of these. )

Otherwise, according to our surgeon, these scans can result in a lot of anxiety and confusion. BUT (he added) he has known them to catch residual and recurrent disease early, much earlier than could be detected by physical exam alone.

Thus a double-edged sword...

Gail