My brother just finished his radiation treatment for tongue cancer. He is scheduled for his first check up (CT scan) in January. Just wanting to know if this is normal to be scanned three months away. What if something comes up in that time?

I think it's more normal to have the first one 8 weeks post TX. I don't know anything about your brother's profile so you may want to ask his doc why?

I was told any where between 8 to 12 weeks for the 1st scan. My Drs preferred 12 weeks to allow for more healing.

Three months out is a normal time according to our doctors at Hopkins -- this allows time for maximum healing and reduces the risk of "false positives." The radiologist there (who primarily does HNC and brain cancer scans) also said that another PET/CT would be done at 6 months and possibly again at a year out. My husband had the first two but not the third as neither initial scan nor any of his succeeding physical exams including several endoscopic exams revealed anything suspicious.

You may also have a chest xray at some point to ensure no distant mets, although a PET/CT will look at the whole body, or at least, down to the pelvis.

Gail

Three months is pretty common for the first scan and some centers are even waiting longer to reduce the false positives that happen because the radiated areas are still healing. Jack "lit up" on the 3 month and subsequent 5 month scans and I was glad to know how common that was so we didn't totally freak out. The physical exams and an endoscopy showed it was just swelling and not cancer, which is pretty typical.

I think waiting for the first scan was the hardest because it feels strange not to be in treatment or "doing something". By the second one we were much better because it was incorporated into our new normal and felt more routine.

Hang in there and that's great that your brother has finished treatments - big milestone!!!

Regards JoAnne

I had my first scan 3 months out.

I'm 7 weeks out of radiation, and had my first check up last week. The Doctors told me that they have no plans for either a PET or CT scan unless at some point there is a reason to be concerned based on endoscopic exam.

They said that the incidence of false positives post radiation is proving to be high enough to cause them to doubt the validity of these tests so close after treatment.

They (the Doctors) haven't done me anything but good so far, and certainly haven't given me any reason to doubt them. I Trust them and their judgement. If they don't think it's worthwhile, I'm fine with that
Wayne
Wayne

Thankyou all for your comments. I really appreciate it. It seems that three months is pretty common then. I suppose the thought of a reoccurance is the scariest thing between now and the three month check up.

Just had my first post tx check up. It was at 10 weeks out due to scheduling problems. MDACC likes to do 8 weeks then 3 month. I had CT/Head and Neck and scope in the office. Thankfully all
clear!!The RO really felt my neck up it has been sore 2 days since but thats why I went 1000 miles to mdacc.By the way scc r/tonsil T1N1Mo
30 IMRT/RAD :p

I had my first scan 7 weeks post tx but with confusing results. My ENT advised that no clear reading could be made by the Radiologist. There was "shadowing" in BOT area and my ENT wanted a better look. She put me in hospital overnight to do a direct laryngoscopy with BOT biopsy. Results were clean with next scan set for 20 December.

Bill D.