Pet scan vs CT scan

carcharm

I am a Stage Ia and will be finishing my Herceptin August 24th - Yeahh! I pushed to have a scan at the end for peace of mind and he suggested a CT scan. I asked for a PET scan. I have neck and knee pain constantly. He agreed to the PET scan but now I wonder why he wanted the CT over the PET? Also, I am getting more anxiety about my August 20th scan. I could be Stage IV and not know it. I've been praying everyday but I can't imagine waiting for results. Luckily I have MY CHART and they will post the results once read in there so I don't have to keep calling. I also know that it is not protocol to have a scan for stage 1a's but I really pushed for it. I worry about the radiation and wonder if I did the right thing by asking for it. I've had a knee xray, jaw xray, neck mri, and a chest xray all in the last year. I feel like I'm already glowing in the dark. What if all the radiation causes more cancer? Sorry, I am just questioning if I am doing the right thing. Anyone have thoughts on this? Please share.

TriciaK

I thinkt he radiation dosage is quite low these days with scans, but I prefer to have a scan than not if worried or concerned about a pain:)

 Both these scans are helpful for different area's of the body, I recently had a  pet/ct combined along with mri and bone scan for suspected mets to my lower back but thankfully it was fine.

I think if a ct shows as suspicious, they'll foollow it up with a pet, pet can read cancer cells (I'm told) at the cellular level so an uptake of glucose (sugar) may mean there's a problem.

I'm sure you'll be fine, I had many aches on finishing herceptin but so far so good at five years and hope you'll be the same:)

If you google pet/ct you'll get a lot of info on both so good luck!

Tricia x

calamtykel

Hi - MRI is a magentic field, so there's no real radiation involved in that, if that helps.  But I know what you mean - I felt like I was glowing after two mammo's in one week and then three dental x-rays in the same week as well. Radiation is a big concern with me and I'm unhappy about having to have scans done (well, not really "unhappy"  - I do want them done, I'm just unhappy about the radiation.)

I'm going for my CT and bone next week.  I had the same question as you did --why not just a PT - and was told by the first oncologlist I saw, and he was the chief of oncologly for a large hospital, that the PT scan can have more instances of false positives.  It can sometimes light up stuff that isn't cancer; and that is why many doctors start with just the CT and bone scans.   I guess if something suspicious shows up on a ct or bone, they would move you along to a PT.

I hate this "waiting game" yet again.....that's for sure.