Full body scan before Chemo? stage 2A

Anonymous

Full body scan before Chemo? stage 2A

stephincanada

Hi All,

My radiation oncologist has ordered a bone scan and abdomen scan for me before I start treatment. My medical oncologist says he thinks this is unnecessary and wouldn't have ordered these tests. I am worried about unnecessary radiation exposure. But because my tumour is so aggressive, I wonder if the benefit of dong the scans outweighs the risks of reducing radiation exposure and skipping the scans. Could people please share their experiences with me? Did your doctors order bone and abdomen scans before you began chemo?

Thanks, all.

Konakona

Before chemo I had, breast MRI, bone scan, abdominal ultrasound, chest x ray, tumor markers.

muska

I had bone scan, chest and abdomen CTs before chemo.

HelenWNZ

I had ct scan 2 weeks before surgery. My chemo only started yesterday which was 8 weeks since scan and I wish I could have another one as I have an aggressive cancer too and still fear spread especially with every ache and pain. I've had an ecg and next week will have an echocardiograph. I guess we have to cover all bases.

Wishing you well

ErenTo

Steph, I'm, too, in Canada. I had a confirmed positive node prior to surgery and my BS said we'll do staging scans. I had chest, abdomen and pelvic CT and bone scans before surgery. I found the tests massively stressful but in retrospect I'm glad they were done, esp. after I ended up with multiple positive nodes. You're lower stage than I but your pathology might have prompted your RO to recommend scans. May not be a bad idea as baseline

Now I'm not too keen on doing regular scans, and it's not standard of care here, they create too much anxiety in me hence QOL is impacted and I'd like to keep radiation to the minimum as much as possible. I have already exposed myself to potentially serious side effects from all my treatments.

MaineRottweilers

When I was Dx'd early stage, I had a positive node so I had a CT of chest/abdomen and had some suspicious areas which led to PET. PET was negative! I had had my first TCH a week before the PET but CT was ordered the week of my first chemo. I was glad to know that I didn't have stage IV dz (at that time). It eliminated a lot of worry for me and I had 18, obliviously happy months before I got a metastatic dx.

stephincanada

Thanks for your responses, all. I have focal lympho vascular invasion, and was told yesterday at my appointment that where there is even the slightest possible of metastasis, they do these scans. Hope everyone is faring ok.