You say, "If you are doing a PET scan, you have bigger problems than
the PET scan."
One would certainly hope so, but that's why it is necessary always to
ask the doctor why he is ordering the test and to discuss one's
concerns with him/her. If one has difficulty communicating with a
particular physician, or with establishing a rapport of mutual trust,
one either needs to read "Examining Your Doctor," a book which
discusses this subject and a lot more, or one needs to switch doctors.
I appreciate that you have said that there is indeed significant
radiation delivered by a PET scan, and I thank you for providing the
link/site where one can compare the radiation from various
modalities. But one thing is missing from the site: the translation
into lay terms of all those numbers and symbols.
One of the last times I visited the dentist, she wanted to take full
mouth x-rays. I baulked seriously because I have had something like
22 full-body CT scans because of the dx of lymphoma. Since she was
unable to tell me, even in "doctorese," how much radiation I would
get from the x-rays, I declined them. I then went on line and found
out that a set of full-mouth x-rays is equivalent to spending 1 day
in the sun. Once I knew that, I allowed the x-rays the next time I
visited the dentist. I know, after all, that come summer, I will be
spending plenty of time, even full days, in the sun. So what is one
day more or less in light of the health of my teeth?
With regard to what you say about follow-up scans, I strongly caution
AGAINST regular follow-up scans of a radioactive nature, and I again
reference the oncologist in California, who is highly successful, and
who eschews scans for thorough, close-up, detailed regular interviews
with the client, supplemented with non-radioactive scans.
As for fast-growing lymphomas, yes, it is paradoxical that someone
like me, who was dx'd with indolent lymphoma, got told that my
chances of a cure were significantly less than someone dx'd with a
lymphoma growing at jet speed!
But the GOOD news is that cancer of all kinds can so often be caught,
corralled and turned back through sane, proper diet and living!
Best wishes and best of health,
Elliot
--- In cancercured@yahoogroups.com, VGammill <vgammill@...> wrote:
> Don't be apprehensive about the PET scan. It provides very useful
> information. Always ask the radiologist for the SUVs (Standardized
> Uptake Values) against background for any hot spots that might be
> malignant -- not all hot spots indicate malignancy. The FDG that is
> used does not feed the cancer, in fact there are strategies for
> fighting cancer using deoxyglucose. The main value of the PET is to
> determine the affinity for glucose. This can be extremely useful
in helping you select the most sensible treatment options. A low
grade tumor will have a low SUV. In general such tumors tend to be slow growing and more difficult to treat. With a high SUV the race is on. I have seen melanomas the size of a football with SUVs up in
the 70s. Absolutely amazing. Such tumors can quickly kill the
patient, but they are easier to treat than less aggressive lesions.
> Don't worry about the radiation. The unwanted effects of the
> radiation are probably every bit as bad as you think they are, but
if you are doing a PET scan then you have greater problems than the
> radiation from the diagnostic/assessment procedure. That is, in
the foreseeable future, the interactive information gained from the PET greatly outweighs the statistically deleterious effects of ionizing radiation.
> On the other hand, the high amounts of ionizing radiation from the
> PET suggest that, without very good reason, you would not want to
> choose this tool for follow-up assessments.
> For a comparison of diagnostic radiation exposures, go to:
> http://www.hps.org/documents/meddiagimaging.pdf
> Vincent
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