you said:
"Just another note I forgot to mention. The Pet Scan is much more accurate than you give it credit. It can detect cancer activity at the cell level."
PET SCAN FUN FACTS:
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when FDG radioactively decays in cancer cells it emits a positron which combines with an electron. both the electron and the positron are converted from matter to energy to form two 511 keV photons. A PET scan detects 511 keV photons.
however, normal cells also uptake FDG, but at a much lower rate than cancer cells. to distinguish between normal and cancer requires a tumor to be at least of a certain size or larger.
this minimum tumor diameter that can be reliably identified by the current third generation of PET scanners is 4 mm in diameter. a tumor that is 4 mm in diameter contains approximately 5x10^8 cancer cells.
the PET facility can give you your PET scan on a disc and you can view it at home on your PC. You can't do all extensive image reconstruction with the software on this disc, but you can view all of the 2D slices and the 3D rotating body. if there are any combination PET/CT facilities in your area, choose them for future scans. they do both the PET and a 16-slice CT or better at the same time, and merge the two sets of data giving a very accurate study.
keep us posted. best of luck to you.
-Amnia