Hi I've been told that I should be going in soon for staging my sclc and that I can expect a CT scan. Given that I had CT scan last month is it a different CT that they use for staging small cell or should it be a PET scan?
Also a second question if I may. I have been looking through the site and noticed that Dr Harman had posted something around diarrhea being caused by small cell. Is this normally something that presents after diagnosis? I am still wondering if my problems a year ago were the first signs of something or is this still too long ago for it to be related to the sclc? The article didn't real go into at what stage you would expect to suffer from diarrhea if it was down to the small cell.
Thank you for providing this service.
David.
Reply # - December 30, 2015, 03:10 PM
I've pasted a few quotes from
I've pasted a few quotes from our and other sites that discuss PET scans in sclc. You will need to speak with your doctors to find out his or her reasoning. Primarily pet scans offer a best and most costly look for metastatic spread. If mets are found with consecutive CT scans then a pet isn't needed and keep healthcare cost down. However your doctor may order a PET if it appears you have no spread and are a candidate for surgery, to make sure.
"Note that PET scans are not an approved test for SCLC, even though it is approved for NSCLC (due to it being better studied in that setting)." http://cancergrace.org/lung/2010/08/03/intro-to-sclcref-lib/
"A PET scan can be a very important test if you appear to have early stage (or limited) SCLC. Your doctor can use this test to see if the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or other organs, which can help determine your treatment options. A PET scan can also be helpful in getting a better idea whether an abnormal area on a chest x-ray or CT scan might be cancer." http://www.cancer.org/cancer/lungcancer-smallcell/detailedguide/small-c…
Under the heading, "Preferred examination" this explanation of why PET scans aren't typically used states,
"PET scanning with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has received increased attention, and growing evidence suggests its superiority in the staging of lung cancer.[3, 4, 5] However, PET scanning is more frequently used in evaluating patients with NSCLC to identify surgical candidates. It is less commonly used in patients with SCLC because most of these patients are not candidates for surgery. PET is also useful for evaluating cases in which recurrent disease is questionable." http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/358274-overview
I hope this helps.
Janine
Reply # - December 31, 2015, 04:33 AM
Thanks Janine, this makes
Thanks Janine, this makes sense now. I suspect the the CT scan might have picked up some spread and they are just rechecking to confrm.