PET/CT Improves Cancer Surgery Odds

Yes, a PET/CT scan absolutely optimizes the outcome of your cancer surgery! When using PET/CT imaging for reference, your surgeon has a greater likelihood of getting a good biopsy sample. Often, without a PET/CT scan, surgeons miss tumours entirely, when taking a biopsy sample. This means that cancerous tissue remains and continues to grow in your body.

• A PET/CT image allows the surgeon to:
  
  • Get a good biopsy sample
  • Know exactly where the cancer is
  • Remove as much cancerous tissue as possible

• In terms of surgery outcomes, PET/CT imaging:
  
  • Helps speed up recovery
  • Reduces the likelihood of cancer recurrence
  • Enables patients to need less medication to get rid of any remaining cancer cells

• Getting a PET/CT scan after surgery:
  
  • Shows whether there are any remaining cancer cells
  • Provides accurate information about how the rest of your treatment is working
  • Can be done repeatedly for effective treatment monitoring

Do You Need to Get a PET/CT Scan?

Without the use of PET/CT imaging, surgeons often miss tumours entirely, when taking a biopsy sample. This is due to the lack of definition and detail found in standard cancer imaging tools (ultrasound, CT, MRI). A poor biopsy makes it more difficult for a surgeon to accurately pinpoint and remove cancerous tissue.

• It’s important to recognize that this is not a failing of the surgeon; it’s a failing caused by limited access to advanced technological resources within the current system. Physicians do their best within those limitations. Unfortunately, that may mean that you end up with a poor biopsy sample and unnecessary amounts of tumour tissue left to grow in your body.

We highly recommend that anyone who thinks they might have cancer, or has received a diagnosis of cancer, has a PET/CT scan. PET/CT imaging will reveal if you have received a false negative or false positive, so you will know for sure whether you have cancer – and exactly where it is. More than that, a PET/CT scan will guarantee that you and your oncologist has as much information as possible about your form of cancer so you can move forward and choose the best treatment options.

If you or a loved one has received a cancer diagnosis and has not yet had a PET/CT scan, please email or call us today to learn how you can get one.