I think this PET scan issue is a good example of "WHO does it is as important as WHAT is done," a mantra often voiced by Don Cooley who runs a major web site for prostate cancer. The major CCCs all use PET/CT, but they also have experts to read them -- the doctor who read Barry's specializes in HNC and brain cancer, and has probably seen 1000s of these scans. This is lot different from going to a local imaging center and getting someone who sees a few HNC scans a year to make a diagnosis.

Also, it is only one of the several tools that should be used in conjunction, as several have said -- Barry has had physical (i.e. endoscopic and hand's-on) exams in addition to the scans and they would have done biopsy and/or MRI if there had been suspicious areas.

Barry is in a tumor-marker study at Hopkins from which he personally will not benefit (as it's double-blind) but the goal is to follow a cohort of patients from dx through treatment and for 3 years, taking blood at regular intervals and following a suite of possible tumor markers to see which, if any, correspond to the behavior of the cancer. Especially if it does not respond to treatment or if it recurs.

Maybe in a decade or so, these and other studies will provide a better means of early diagnosis and post-treatment monitoring.

Gail