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What Do My Lab Test Reports Indicate?
Question: My dad,64 years old, was diagnosed with Signer Ring cell carcinoma in December. He was a smoker for 50 years.
He went through a total gastrectomy. Followed by 6 cycles of chemotherapy. The last cycle was done on the 21st of April. He was advised CT PET on 8th May. We followed up with Oncologist who did the chemo. The reports were good . The doctor advised to follow up after 4 months with basic blood test and sonography.
The doctor is well experienced and best.
My query is why has my dad not advised another CT.
USG will not pick early signs , will not pick lymph nodes or bones....in USG there is nothing for lungs....if I am correct then PET CT picks up at a level when even before symptoms appear... if the symptoms have already appeared , which means its a wide spread then....Wen I asked the oncologist if there is a CT required she just said not unless there is any symptoms...Now in dads case there was never any symptoms...His problem started with difficulty in swallowing food ...the reason was the tumor growth between the esophagus and stomach...
Dats how this whole thing started..This doc is the best oncologist chemo in XXXXXXX Well experienced...i don't want to doubt their efficiency ...I want to clear my doubts
He went through a total gastrectomy. Followed by 6 cycles of chemotherapy. The last cycle was done on the 21st of April. He was advised CT PET on 8th May. We followed up with Oncologist who did the chemo. The reports were good . The doctor advised to follow up after 4 months with basic blood test and sonography.
The doctor is well experienced and best.
My query is why has my dad not advised another CT.
USG will not pick early signs , will not pick lymph nodes or bones....in USG there is nothing for lungs....if I am correct then PET CT picks up at a level when even before symptoms appear... if the symptoms have already appeared , which means its a wide spread then....Wen I asked the oncologist if there is a CT required she just said not unless there is any symptoms...Now in dads case there was never any symptoms...His problem started with difficulty in swallowing food ...the reason was the tumor growth between the esophagus and stomach...
Dats how this whole thing started..This doc is the best oncologist chemo in XXXXXXX Well experienced...i don't want to doubt their efficiency ...I want to clear my doubts
Brief Answer:
It is not mandatory
Detailed Answer:
Hello dear. I have gone through the details.
So your doc is right in not advising a CT scan as the guidelines only suggest the blood tests and clinical examination. CT is required only if there are symptoms.
Most likely pattern of failure in Ca stomach will be in the abdomen only and it will manifest. Even if we pick it a few weeka earlier by PET-CT or CT, there will not be much difference in survival. Hence it is not justified.
Thanks and regards
Hope you'll understand. Let me know if I can assist you further.
It is not mandatory
Detailed Answer:
Hello dear. I have gone through the details.
So your doc is right in not advising a CT scan as the guidelines only suggest the blood tests and clinical examination. CT is required only if there are symptoms.
Most likely pattern of failure in Ca stomach will be in the abdomen only and it will manifest. Even if we pick it a few weeka earlier by PET-CT or CT, there will not be much difference in survival. Hence it is not justified.
Thanks and regards
Hope you'll understand. Let me know if I can assist you further.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Arnab Banerjee
Answered by
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