PET Scan After Chemo/Radiation

@spooz2 You sound a bit anxious. Are you? What has the doctor said is the reason for the PET scan and have you been scheduled for one?

My doctor recommended that i should get a Pet scan 3 months after the end of radiation, which I did and another scan 3 months after that!

Becky, I know you mean well, but, of course, I am anxious….I have cancer! As I mentioned in my query, my forthcoming PET scan will show whether my chemo/radiation was effective. I am in the process of scheduling the scan, so I wanted learn from others about the interval between ending those therapies and having the scan.

Hi @lynndian, may I ask what type of cancer you were treated for? Did you doctor mention that scans would be less frequent as time goes on?

Bladder cancer. Radical cystectomy in Sept. '18. No mention of less frequency of scan over time.

Hi! I was diagnosed with base of tongue, left tonsil, and oropharyngeal wall cancer and 2 lymph nodes in January 2019. I had robotic surgery and lymph node removal in February and then I had a scan that showed that it looked like cancer was gone except there was perineural invasion so i did 6 weeks of radiation treatment. I was done with that at the end of April, then I had a follow up PET scan 3 months later, in late July. The scan looked good but a follow up scan was set up for 3 months from that. They set me up for just a CT scan and appointment with my radiation oncologist and I go this Wednesday Nov. 6. I believe he had said that if this scan looked good, that I would go back one year from now for another PET scan, then 2 years from that have 1 more.