I just got off the phone with Stephens NP and she made an appointment for his 6 months scans , which are actually closer to 9 month scans at this point but she only ordered a CT. He has always had PET/CT in the past. Should I call back and ask that the PET be ordered? I was under the impression that the PET scan is the important scan, along with the CT.

Kerry

Kerry,

My next scan scheduled for the end of Feb will be my 6 month post Tx and it is scheduled to be a CAT.

I was told a PET scan is really a CT/PET SCAN. I mean they do a CT scanwith PET. They are done at the same time on the same machine. It may be that PET refers to the type of fluid injected. I would call her back and ask what type of scan she scheduled him for and if it's CT only then ask her why if he normally has a CT/PET scan.

One of my docs told me that with head/neck cancer they are moving away from PET due to false positives. I haven't seen one but I understand that there is a new CT machine that doubles the amount of slices taken to produce the 3 dimensional image and that tumors the size of a grain of sand can be detected by the skilled eye of the radiologist. It is awesome the strides that are made daily in all kinds of cancer research. I firmly believe that there will some day be a cure for all cancer.
Darrell

PET scans are not the same as a CT scan-- I think pnly in some cases and on some machines is a CT done along with a PET. Otehrwise, they are different. Calling back and asking is best.

Nelie

A fused PET/CT is still the "gold standard" but you want the radiologist administering and reading the scan to have seen a lot of head and neck scans. The risk of false positives is greater when the experience of the "reader" is less, they may be over-cautious and incorrectly interpret inflammation or healing as cancer.

Even with top person, the rate of false positives can be about 5-7% (per our ENT and also, the radiologist) -- however the risk of false negatives is quite small.

The radioactive labelled glucose of the PET shows areas of high cellular activity (cancer is glucose-hungry, thus takes it up strongly, but so do areas of normal cell growth such as healing wounds) -- the CT component allows the radiologist to examine the "hot spot's" physical appearance. Experienced radiologists can Usually separate cancer from benign processes, but sometimes there are areas that cannot be identified. The doctor may then order a biopsy, if practicable, or another scan such as an MRI.

Gail

Kerry,

In my understanding, the CT scan is used post treatment. My ENT has me do one every 6 months and compares to the previous scans to make sure no masses have changed shape or size. If there is an alarm or change on the CT scan, then it may be appropriate to do a PET scan. Ultimately this is your doctors decision and he has the final say, but this has been my experience.

Jim

I just had a combined PET/CT scan (one year post-radiation) and they are certainly two different scans, but done simultaneously -- They inject you with radioactive glucose and then have you lay in a recliner in dim light for 30-45 minutes to allow the glucose to move around and accumulate in the places where it is processed or absorbed or whatever.

I requested a copy of the disk and they burnt it right after the scan, so likely I was home looking at it on my laptop before the radiologist found his copy in his inbox. I won't get the interpreted results until my visit to my ENT's office next week.

I scared the bejeepers out of myself looking at the disk, because there are one heck of a lot of 'hot spots' in my body (I requested a full body scan, which turns out to be from eyebrows to mid-thigh) -- My brain looks like the impact point for a MIRV of nukes, so either that's normal or I am among the Walking Dead.

Thought at first that my bladder (all lit up from processed glucose I presume) was my prostate (glance at an anatomy book cleared that up), but now to my untrained eye, my prostate looks good (been having some problems with that across the last couple of years, so that was an open question).

The two scans (267 images each) are viewable separately or 'fused' where they are keyed to each other, plus some other simultaneous views of my body, so scrolling down thru my body, a la Fantastic Voyage, I can see a hot zone in PET and look at the corresponding slice in CT, all lined up with crosshairs -- Cool stuf!

Pete, I was just wondering is this scan covered by your insurance or did you have to pay for it out of your pocket. Also did your DR. order it or is it something you did on your own.
My ENT and MO have never once had a CT OR PET scan done. I have annual chest XRay once a yr. and that is it. It's like pulling teeth (SORRY JERRY) everytime I ask for a scan. Anybody else have problems getting scans.
I guess the question I am trying to pose is Why do some get scans as part of their follow up and others do not?
Thanx, Mark D.

Mark, they weren't going to do a scan in my case until I had a recurrence and pitched a royal hissy about having only one side of my neck radiated (long story, very boring). Anyway, I wonder if it is the area doctors, the number of false positives may be putting them off doing PET/CT routinely.
It turned out, by the way, that my PET lit up like the Aurora Borealis, and was a false positive.
Thankfully!
Andrea