Pet Scan Question

Hi Everyone,

My husband finished his radiation on May 2nd and his 3rd and last chemo on May 6th for stage 4a tonsil/lympy node cancer.  He ended up in the hospital the week after because his levels were all low from the chemo and not eating for a week (he didn't have a PEG) Well, he came home on Friday after 3 1/2 weeks in the hosp.  We went to the oncologist today.  She wants to see him again in three weeks and said she will schedule his PET scan then.  She said to have the scan at about 12 weeks after treatment.  There is new research that says having the scan done too early can have false positives because the radaition is still working.  Also, she said the scan determine how extensive his surgery he will need. She told us the schedule an appointment with the surgeon after the scan.  My question is - how long after treatment finished did you have the PET scan. 

I haven't posted on the sight in a few weeks because he was so ill, but I always found a few minutes to log on and see how everyone is doing and get my daily dose of support. 

Carol

Hi,

   My husband had a PET scan about 5 weeks after completing chemo/radiation for SNUC- maxillary sinus cancer- it seemed promising, but the surgeon said it was too soon, that the chemo and particularly the radiation are still working and it is hard to say what is inflammation and what is still cancer, so he has scheduled another PET scan for 7/30, which will be almost 3 months after completion of treatment.

  It is hard to wait that long, but there certainly can be a lot of inflammation following chemo and radiation that has to heal.

 Good luck!

Kathy

I had my first post PET 3 months after treatment.  That seems to be the norm.

Tom 

my s.o. finished treatment on April 22nd and his PET is scheduled for june 30 - so about 10 weeks.  first his oncologist at dana farber said 12 weeks but the surgeon there moved it up to 10 weeks...not sure why.

~meesh

My hubby does not have his scan scheduled yet but the doc said 5 weeks after treatment.  His follow up appointment is July 9th and they said the PET scan would be before that so that we have the results at the follow up appointment.

 Now I am starting to worry.  Is this too soon?  Lord forbid, I don't want any false positives (or ANY positives for that matter).  Although I would really like to put my faith in the fact that our dr knows what he is doing.  I guess I will just cross that bridge when we get to it, but I can't help but be concerned.

I had my first PET scan at about 10 weeks post treatment. The oncologist told me that it takes up to 8 weeks to completely kill the cancer after treatment, so 12 weeks isnt really out of line. It's hard waiting for the day of the scan, but good things (hopefully! ) are worth waiting for.

Best wishes and good luck.

Mike

It seems like 10 to 12 weeks is about the average time for the PET scan.  I was just a little worried because I originally thought the surgery had an 8 to 12 week window to be done and that the scan had to be done around 6 weeks.  His cousin who had the same cancer last year, finished his treatment at the end of February and had his surgery on April 9th.  Besides the doctors, I base a lot of information on what he went through.  I'm so glad for this site so I can get several experiences.

 Thanks,

Carol

Gayle, I do mean the neck dissection. His next app is in three weeks with the onocolgist (that makes it 2 months after rad)  She will set up the PET scan and then we will make an app with the surgeon. That will be around the 3 month mark, so it seems like he will have the surgery around 3 1/2 months.   The med oncol and rad dr is at one hospital and the surgeon is at Mt. SInai in NYC, but they all recommend each other and work together on cases.

 Thanks, Carol