Hi Rhonda,

Just to throw in my 2 cents here, I have never had a PET scan. Not before surgery nor after.

As you can tell from the above posts, the trend at some of the top CCC's appears to me to be moving away from PET scans due to the many false positives. My surgeon, too, does not beleive that these scans are helpful and does not order them for any of his patients. I do believe that this removes some of the anxiety that we all live with about that second most dreaded word, "recurrence".

I wonder if a study was ever done to show what percentage of positive post treatment PET scans were actually cancer. I can't remember reading where any one here had a second round of treatment based solely on the results of a PET scan. I know my memory is not that great, but it would be interesting to see if this is the case.

Jerry


Jerry

Retired Dentist, 59 years old at diagnosis. SCC of the left lateral border of the tongue (Stage I). Partial glossectomy and 30 nodes removed, 4/6/05. Nodes all clear. No chemo no radiation 18 year survivor.

"Whatever doesn't kill me, makes me stronger"