I am a Pet/Ct specialist and have seen the changes this test can allow. It seems it is going to take lawsuits to get doctors to treat their patients properly. I talk to doctors to get them to use this proven and accurate test and they only want to use whatthey were trained in medical school often greater than twenty years earlier.
2006-09-23 11:03:01 · 7 answers · asked by james c 2 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Cancer
I very routinely use PET/CT scans to stage the cancer and also to evaluate response to my chemotherapy. If the chemo is not working, I change the regimen. If it is working, we continue with the current regimen. The only difficulty I have come across is some insurance companies refuse to pay for the PET scan. I have fought this, sometimes I win, other times I don't. I find PET/CT scans extremely useful.
2006-09-23 12:21:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've become a pro at getting Pet/CT scans. I'm due for another one in November. My transplant doctor walked me through my last PET scan images frame by frame to show me that my cancer was in remission. It was the most awesome thing I've ever seen in my life. The first time I saw the pictures of a PET scan every lymph node in my upper body was lit up like a light bright, so to see all that gone was just amazing.
I could do without that nasty kool-aid crap they make me get for my gallium CT though.
2006-09-25 19:57:31 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has given my wife and I a little peace of mind. My wife was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer last July. Even though the nurse practitioner "got it right " the first time instead of mis-diagnosing it as mastitis (common). We were very afraid that it had metastised (sp?) in the short interim. The PET and C/T and bone scan confirmed that it had "stayed put" in the breast and one axillary lymph node. Unfortunately/fortunately (depending on your outlook) a recent C/T results show that no real progress has been made with chemotherapy. Time to change regimen. (sigh)
2006-09-26 18:30:15 · answer #3 · answered by half_life1052 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, PET/CTs helped me a lot. First, I only had to have one procedure. Before I was having a CT first, then a PET. I think the PET/CTs are great and they helped my doctor to treat me more accuarately. And, most of all, I'm still here to tell the story!
2006-09-25 05:06:04 · answer #4 · answered by Char 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
CT scans helped a lot! Ive heard good things about PET scans too but I didn't get to use them.
They need to use them more often if they're not doing it.
2006-09-23 11:08:06 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a breast cancer survivor. I had node involvement and other symptoms made me worry that it had spread elsewhere. My doctor stated that they would not order a pet scan unless they saw something suspicious using another method.
2006-09-25 04:42:53 · answer #6 · answered by nimbleminx 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a diagnostic tool only - not a treatment tool
2006-09-23 14:24:39 · answer #7 · answered by weezyljm 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋