Monitoring after treatment?

poisedandpink

I am curious how other oncologist monitor after treatment. I'm seeing an oncologist at MSK who let me know that once I finish my radiation and then six months of oral chemo there is really nothing they do to monitor. I'll see her every six months, but more-so for a check in. They don't do tumor marker blood test or even PET scans. In fact, I've never had a PET scan since they do not have a reason to believe I need one at this point.

She mentioned that tumor markers are not effective and that PET scans often lead to false positives and unnecessary biopsies. I'd only get a scan if I develop symptoms that warrant it. I want to trust my oncologist as MSK is supposed to be pretty reputable but is this normal for Stage 3?

Waronbreastcancer

It's the same in Denmark and Sweden. It feels better with time I guess

Peregrinelady

Yes, this is the same for most of us, although I believe there are some women who receive more testing. There is a thread on this topic but I am not sure what it is called.

Peregrinelady

https/community.breastcancer.org/forum/108/topics/871187?post_id=5391401

This is the thread

poisedandpink

Okay, that makes me feel better that it seems to be the standard. Thanks for sharing the other thread!

berries

poisedandpi…, Curious, have you had any scans at all since your stage III diagnosis? Ordering scans didn't seem like they were on the top of my MO's to-do list.

MinusTwo

I'm 5 years out from recurrence. The MO doesn't want to do any scans. He will see me once a year. Although I do get CA 27-29 blood tests along with my every 6 months standard blood draws. (I can't get the Prolia shots w/o testing for Calcium & Vit D each time) I'm sure he'd rather drop it but my PCP writes the blood orders now and just follows what's I show her has been done every time. If you use the cancer antigen numbers only as an indication, it's reasonable to watch. It has to go up consistently or a huge amount to catch his attention, so one test is useless.

poisedandpink

Hi vmb,

I have not had any scans. My oncologist thinks based on how I only had micro-amounts in two out of the six lymph nodes removed during surgery that the chance cancer is metastatic at this stage is very small. His opinions is that the scans would do more harm than good. I will not receive them until I show symptoms.

karen1956

I'm 13+ years since Dx. For the first 5 years my oncologist saw me every 3 months. At year 5 he moved me to every 6 months. He does NOT do scans unless patient is symptomatic or asks for them. I DON"T want scans so I'm happy with this. He does a thorough history at each visit, labs(tumor markers, CMP and CBC) and breast exam. I just saw him last week and I'm still NED!!

SSInUK

I have PET scans every six months because of my particular circs. The onc obviously looks at me as a shoe that’s going to drop. It’s thorough - and emotionally absolute hell. I thought I would want thorough follow up but I do NOT recommend it, for mental stres