Hi everyone,
Did anyone have a CT scan that had false positives? My oncologist says that I don’t need a CT scan but she will order one for my peace of mind. However, she also says that usually there’s false positives, specially in the lungs, which probably will need to be further investigated. I am worried that this would delay chemotherapy… and I am currently doing fertility treatment to freeze my eggs and idk if doing a CT scan would be wise.
Thanks a lot.
Hi
My experience of CT scans has not been good. They fail to spot my actual tumour and skin mets and find all sorts of things wrong with me, like a suspicious sternum (badly healed fracture actually), gynae issues (Gynaecology not concerned), a lung nodule (last chest infection was 40 years ago)… I could go on. I need to have one every three months because I have secondary bc and the report is different every time - I’m not impressed. You might get some reassurance from a CT scan but, as your oncologist says, they aren’t infallible and, knowing that, why would you want one?
I was initially treated privately and I didn’t have a CT scan until after my mastectomy, in preparation for chemo under the NHS. It was probably 2 months+ after my first diagnosis. Some hospitals do it the other way round - chemo to shrink the tumour, then CT scan and surgery, before radiotherapy. Looks like that’s what your hospital does. All I can say is treatment is a partnership between you and your multi-disciplinary team (MDT) and you need to trust your team. They are the experts and they wouldn’t do anything to put you at greater risk. Some people need to feel in control of their treatment by researching and studying their data but the outcome is just the same if you take a more passive approach which gives greater peace of mind. That works well for me but I’m not you. You have to decide.
I really hope you get more responses to help you make up your mind. As a last point, currently my Radiology department now has a waiting time of 13 weeks for CT scans. Obviously emergencies are put in but this is a Regional Centre of Excellence so it shows what huge pressure they are under. Would you want to delay things further?
As regards the eggs, you should consult the clinic that’s doing it but a CT scan can focus on parts of the body so you could have a scan that just does abdominal and thorax areas, not pelvic. Just a thought… I wish you all the best in what lies ahead.
Jan x