Replies to Thank you so much for your detailed response! I was just reading about new treatments regarding…

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Cancer | Last Active: Jun 12 11:50am | Replies (8)

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@karynl11

Thank you so much for your detailed response! I was just reading about new treatments regarding circulating tumor DNA and a new clinical trial in the UK. These new targeted treatments are very encouraging. I will ask my doctor about how comprehensive the tissue testing is, and whether it’s preserved. My SCC is likely to be deep, as it originated in a wound, and I’m a little freaked out about that. I also wonder how thorough the MOHS procedure is when it’s being performed in a dermatologist’s office and not at an oncologist or hospital. But your advice will provide me with the right questions, and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you—best wishes for a full recovery, as well.

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Replies to "Thank you so much for your detailed response! I was just reading about new treatments regarding..."

markymarkfl | @markymarkfl | Jun 1 10:02pm

You're very welcome. I don't know enough about skin cancers to know if a treatment that was developed first for melanoma could also work for squamous cell carcinoma, but you could investigate some of the links I posted regarding TILs (Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes) in this thread: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/metastatic-melanoma/?pg=1#comment-1075615 and ask your docs if something like that is possible.

(If they say it's not possible, ask them to save as much of your tissue as you can anyway, in case some other institution says it is possible! 🙂 )

FWIW, in the US, there was one institution where the doctor told me my insurance would not cover a PET scan at my then-current condition. I asked the hospital's radiology department how much it would cost if I were to self-pay, and the answer was about $5000. Apparently the FDG radioactive tracer is rather expensive! But there may be other options (e.g., "medical tourism" or other shopping around where you could get the PET scan cheaper.

Please be as proactive and assertive as you can be. I don't know what the real metastasis pattern is for squamous cell, but I have a schoolmate from decades ago fighting it now, and it looked rather small on the surface to start.