Problems with CT Scans

Why a CT scan just isn't enough for an accurate cancer diagnosis

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The Truth About CT Scans for Cancer Diagnosis


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Are you wondering how accurate your CT scan for cancer is?

  • Do you worry if a CT scan alone is enough to diagnose cancer?
  • Are you unsure if you can trust a CT scan?
  • Do you doubt your diagnosis from a CT scan?

The Very First Thing You Should Know About CT Scans for Cancer Diagnosis Is This:

A cancer diagnosis based on CT scan has the potential to be completely wrong – up to 30% of the time!

That means that 30% of the time people will either be told they don’t have cancer when they do... or people will be told they do have cancer when they don’t, based on CT scans alone.

So, right off the bat, when your doctor is telling you, "You have cancer" based on a CT scan, it’s going to be impossible for you to have confidence in what’s actually happening in your body and what your next steps should be.

Why Gerry was on chemo for 6 months when he didn’t even have cancer...

Read this real life story of a CT scan gone wrong.

Gerry - misdiagnosed with Cancer
Doctor with female patient

Problems with CT Scans

  • CT Scans Fail to Detect Cancer
    Like ultrasounds, a CT scan is unable to differentiate cancerous tissue from non-cancerous tissue:
    • Therefore, CT scans can lead to a false negative
    • This can negatively impact your ability to get any treatment at all
    • This can prolong the time it takes you to access treatment
    • In the meantime, your cancer can progress
  • CT Scans Lack Detail
    A CT Scan cannot identify the most aggressive tumours:
    • Therefore, doctors are unable to prioritize treatment effectively
    • They’re unable to differentiate between cancerous tissue and cysts (or fibroids)
  • CT Scans Miss Tumours
    A CT scan is unable to clearly identify the location of all tumours in your body:
    • Therefore, it is common for tumours to be completely missed
    • Or, to have only partial tumour removal during surgery)
  • CT Scans are Inaccurate for Treatment Monitoring
    After cancer treatment, a CT scan is unable to determine whether masses leftover are cancerous:
    • The CT scan might show signs of cancer, but that cancer might not be active
    • For example, it could be scar tissue left over from cancer killed off by your treatment
    • This means you won’t know whether or not you need to continue treatment

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7 Crucial Things You Can Do Right NOW To Beat Cancer
Holding Hands

You’re in shock.

And you just want time to stop so you can breathe, and think...

But time doesn’t stop.

You can’t just sit and take it all in – you have decisions to make, now, about things that you know nothing about and that will determine the fate of your life, forever.

What you’re going through is the most stressful situation that you can be in.

You’re being forced to make immediate decisions that will impact the rest of your life in a big way, when you don’t have any experience with, or understanding of, what’s going on and what your options truly are.

It’s impossible to feel confident in that situation.

And yet confidence is the very thing you most need in order to have some peace of mind and be able to focus on getting well and getting back to your life and the things that matter most to you.

Find out how Janice’s doctors missed that she had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer...based on a CT scan. She found out 1.5 years later, when it was too late.

Read this real life story of a CT scan gone wrong!

Janice - cancer diagnosis missed

Why CT Scans Just Won't Cut It

On top of that, there are other reasons why cancer diagnoses and treatment plans based on a CT scan are far less accurate and effective than those based on better tests that are available to you now!

So when your cancer diagnosis and treatment plan is based on a CT scan, it’s appropriate for you to want more information and to wonder if there might be something more you can do to have better confidence and control over what is happening to you.

A cancer diagnosis is overwhelming for the best of us!

It makes perfect sense that if you’ve gotten a cancer diagnosis, you might feel too overwhelmed with emotion to want to start to tackle the logistics involved in getting the best possible treatment. Where would you even start, right?

A doctor with a clipboard

But...you probably already know exactly what you DON’T WANT! And that is a good start...

  • You don’t want to constantly be wondering what’s happening in your body.
  • You don’t want to be worrying if your treatment is the right one or if it’s working.
  • You don’t want to be anxious all the time, because you don't know if your cancer is starting to grow elsewhere or if your tumors are shrinking.
  • And you sure as heck don’t want to be wondering for the rest of your life if you are truly cancer free...
    ...Right?

We understand how you feel, and we are here to help you. You do not need to do this alone.

We believe that knowledge is power.

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Now You Can Have a More Precise Diagnosis With Less Wait Time

And if you’re here, looking for more information on CT scans, then you clearly want more information for yourself – information that you can trust, so that you can make the most informed decision possible about your cancer and how to beat it, for good.

A cancer diagnosis can be a very lonely experience, even if you’re lucky enough to be surrounded by people who love and care about you. The last thing you need to be feeling, along with everything else, is doubt...

You need certainty!

  • You need certainty that you have cancer, or don't have it, for starters.
  • Certainty that you’re getting the best treatment for you, and not just the best one that happens to be offered at your local hospital.
  • Certainty, ASAP, that your cancer treatment is working and that you’re doing everything you can to beat cancer and prevent it from ever coming back.
  • You need certainty that your cancer is really gone! 100% gone!

You can break free from the chronic worry about wasting your precious time, or being on the wrong treatments, or struggling through unnecessary side-effects, or about having the cancer come back with a new breakthrough approach to cancer care: Precision Oncology.

Using leading edge medical science, available now in many advanced countries, you can get the certainty you need, NOW!

If you’re ready to move past the endless worry of a cancer diagnosis and get back to living your life to the fullest again, get our FREE ebook, where you’ll discover the tools of Precision Oncology, how they compare to your current standard care, and how you can begin to use them, today, to give yourself the best chance of beating cancer.

A woman receives good news on the phone

FREE Report

The 7 Crucial Things Cancer Patients Can Do Right NOW To Beat Cancer

This revealing free report gives you the secret 7-step strategy that we have used for over a decade to massively increase our patients’ life expectancy and help them far outlive their doctors predictions – even with advanced, stage IV cancer!

Get Your Free Report


Are CT Scans Accurate for Diagnosing Cancer?

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Cancer Cells

About CT Scans

In addition to ultrasounds, another scan commonly used in standard cancer diagnosis is a CT scan. CT stands for Computed Tomography. It's an imaging tool that uses X-ray technology to produce scans of the inside of the body. A CT scan is also sometimes called a CAT scan (Computerized Axial Tomography).

While CT scans do show a bit more detail than an ultrasound, they still cannot identify cancerous tissue – and this can easily lead to false negatives. PET/CT scans, on the other hand, provide you with far more accurate and detailed results.

Did you know...

  • Research shows that a whole-body CT scan may be ineffective for a healthy person.
  • There are concerns about the ionizing radiation used in CT scans, which could lead to larger numbers of future cancers. 1,2,3
  • Women have a higher risk of developing cancer after receiving radiation exposure than men of the same age. 4
  • While the radiation exposure from one CT scan is still lower than that from typical x-rays, the CT scan process requires multiple scans in order to give you relevant information, since they rely on comparison: "By comparing CT scans done over time, doctors can see how a tumor is responding to treatment or find out if the cancer has come back after treatment." 5,6
  • A CT scan can be wrong: it can’t tell the difference between cancerous tissue and non-cancerous tissue.7,8
  • CT scans can be misread or misinterpreted. 9
  • Imaging tests usually can’t tell if a change has been caused by cancer. 10
  • CT scans can produce false negatives and false positives. 11,12
  • CT scan can miss cancer, or miss tumors in other areas of the body. 13
  • CT scans are proven to be less effective at diagnosing cancer than PET/CT. 14

Why is a PET/CT Scan Better Than a CT Scan?

PET Scan

A PET/CT scan, meanwhile, does show if tissue is cancerous or not, and how active it is. This means you won’t receive a false negative. Plus, you will avoid continuing treatment if it's not actually needed. We’ve had clients who’d been told that they were cancer-free, based on a CT scan. But when they got a PET/CT scan, it showed a cancerous tumour that would have otherwise gone untreated.

Simply put, you cannot rely on a CT scan. See our PET/CT vs CT Comparison to learn more about how and why CT scans can fail cancer patients.

If PET/CT is Better, Why are Patients Still Getting CT Scans?

If we know that PET/CT scan is a superior diagnostic tool, why are doctors still prescribing CT scans to patients (usually after they’ve had an ultrasound)?

  • CT scans are cheaper than PET/CT scans
  • CT scans are cheaper than MRIs
  • They provide more detail than an ultrasound

The usual process in standard cancer care is to give people the cheapest (and, usually, least accurate) tests first. If those tests show troubling signs, the patient will get a slightly more expensive –and, more accurate – test. However, PET/CT scans are still not a part of standard care, except in worst case scenarios. But by the time patients in those cases actually get a PET/CT, so much time has passed that incorrect treatments have often already been given, and the cancer has progressed to an uncontrollable point. However...this can be avoided!

When you get a PET/CT scan from the start, you avoid wasting any time at all – and you are guaranteed to get all the facts about whether you have cancerous tumours, where exactly they are, how aggressive they are, and if your treatment is working as well as it should be. Isn't that what you want?

Read more about why PET/CT scans are so effective and how they work.

If you have any questions, or want to access a PET/CT and other life-saving tests & treatments, reach out today to speak with our precision oncology specialists.


Do You Want to Ensure Your Cancer Diagnosis is Accurate?

While a PET/CT is an excellent imaging tool, it alone is not enough to give you an accurate diagnosis. For an accurate diagnosis, you also need to get comprehensive genetic testing done, and have the results analyzed by a genomics specialist (not a regular oncologist).

That’s why our Scientific Research and Advocacy Team at Cancer Treatment Options and Management will help you get the most advanced diagnostic tools (like PET/CT) and genetic tests (like tumor DNA sequencing and liquid biopsy) as fast as possible. And, most importantly, we’ll ensure the results of these tests are properly analyzed and put into immediate action for you.

In other words, we’ll ensure you get the right testing done immediately – and then we’ll analyze the results and get you started on the right treatment ASAP.

Speed and accuracy are the two most important factors in a successful treatment outcome.

Take control over your cancer, today! And feel less stressed about your cancer care, instantly. Take the fastest path to your success and register now for a Precision Second Opinion with our Scientific Research and Advocacy Team.

With cancer, every moment counts. Contact us today to discover how we can help you. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.


Explore all Four Pillars of Precision Oncology:

Improve Treatment Success and Reduce Stress


  1. Precise Diagnosis
    How to get the most accurate cancer diagnosis with genetic testing and PET/CT.
  2. Personalized Research
    How to get the best possible treatment plan through personalized research on your inherited genetics, lifestyle, and cancer genetics.
  3. Advanced and Targeted Treatment Options
    How to increase your life expectancy, and feel better during & after treatment, by using targeted therapies (such as immunotherapy) and advanced surgical tools.
  4. Ongoing Treatment Monitoring
    How to ensure your treatment is working, as fast as possible, with Liquid Biopsy (ctDNA) and PET/CT.
Which Precision Oncology Service Package is Right For You?

Hear What Our Patients Have to Say...

"I was impressed with the research and knowledge that the Scientific Research and Advocacy Team from CTOAM has. They've explained everything along the way; I’ve come to trust them implicitly. They always give me hope, which is a huge benefit. I’d recommend for anyone diagnosed with cancer to give CTOAM a call and use this service. A doctor’s just a doctor – meaning, they don’t have time to do the research that Cancer Treatment Options and Management does, plus they have to stick with the protocols of standard care." Damian, CTOAM patient & colon cancer survivor

Get Peace of Mind with Your Cancer Care

Start Your Journey Today!

Take the first step toward feeling better and having more time with your loved ones: Make sure you have access to the most powerful diagnostic tools and treatments that medical science has to offer – with expert guidance from our Scientific Research and Advocacy Team every step of the way.

Register for a NO RISK Cancer Second Opinion with our Scientific Research and Advocacy Team today.

Get Your Questions Answered!

Discover how you can get better cancer treatment

Book a free 30-min Cancer Care Strategy Session

"I can’t tell you how much your support means to me. My call today with you was invaluable. You came into our lives at the perfect time. It’s rare to just be able to talk without a sales pitch. I could tell that my needs were more important." - Diane

Discover how you can get better cancer treatment! Get your questions answered now

Book a free 30-min Cancer Care Strategy Session

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