Danger of too many scans vs cancer?

I don't know the answer to your question but I do have a response for you.

Please ….this is a scary statistic.  I usually tune my Doc out when he starts quoting stats because I am not a statistic.  I am also a Stage 3a.  So when I read this from the University of Michigan it made me sick to my stomach.  I think this is way high, it certainly is higher than I have ever heard….. But if your mom is going to bug you about too many scans….maybe it's time to scare her straight.  anyway here's what they claim

"People with melanoma who have one or more positive lymph nodes are at a high risk to have their melanoma recur. It is believed that 70 to 80% of these individuals will have their melanoma come back within the next three to five years."

So now, ask her if she would rather you wait until it is non-operable or catch it when it can be removed?

Then smile to yourself and say…..it OK, I'm not a statistic and I'm done with this thing.

Mary

Stage 3

I don't know the answer to your question but I do have a response for you.

Please ….this is a scary statistic.  I usually tune my Doc out when he starts quoting stats because I am not a statistic.  I am also a Stage 3a.  So when I read this from the University of Michigan it made me sick to my stomach.  I think this is way high, it certainly is higher than I have ever heard….. But if your mom is going to bug you about too many scans….maybe it's time to scare her straight.  anyway here's what they claim

"People with melanoma who have one or more positive lymph nodes are at a high risk to have their melanoma recur. It is believed that 70 to 80% of these individuals will have their melanoma come back within the next three to five years."

So now, ask her if she would rather you wait until it is non-operable or catch it when it can be removed?

Then smile to yourself and say…..it OK, I'm not a statistic and I'm done with this thing.

Mary

Stage 3

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/pdf/sfty_xray.pdf

There is a good list here on page 2. I have to admit, it's not high up on my list of concerns- the possibility of contracting a fatal cancer 🙂 Been there, done that! In fact I reckon if I live long enough to have enough scans to contract another one, I'll have done bloody well 😀

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/pdf/sfty_xray.pdf

There is a good list here on page 2. I have to admit, it's not high up on my list of concerns- the possibility of contracting a fatal cancer 🙂 Been there, done that! In fact I reckon if I live long enough to have enough scans to contract another one, I'll have done bloody well 😀

Maybe this will help you some.

Here is the radiation dose calculator. It covers everything from x-rays to CT scans to Nuclear medicine.

 http://www.xrayrisk.com/calculator/calculator.php

 Here is some information on radiation dosage and here is where I got this information from:

 http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/safety/index.cfm?pg=sfty_xray

 The scientific unit of measurement for radiation dose, commonly referred to as effective dose, is the millisievert (mSv).

 Average annual background radiation is about 2.2-3 mSv average annually from naturally occurring radioactive materials and cosmic radiation from outer space.

These natural "background" doses vary throughout the country and world.

 PET scan radiation varies, but I believe it is usually around 7-8 mSv (millisieverts) which is comparable to about a 2 + year dose of background radiation. 

CT varies depending on the location as well. Whole body or abdomen and pelvis CT screening subjects the individual screened to radiation exposure from x rays at about 7-10 msv or comparable to about three years of background radiation. 

1 CT scan = about 7 mSv, so one could have a CT scan 4 times a year for 25 years, and their increased cancer risk is only 4.133% (693 mSv) after the 25 years. 

Typical effective radiation dose values.

Computed tomography Milliseverts (mSv)

Head CT 1 – 2 mSv

Pelvis CT 3 – 4 mSv

Chest CT 5 – 7 mSv

Abdomen CT 5 – 7 mSv

Abdomen/pelvis CT 8 – 11 mSv

Coronary CT angiography 5 – 12 mSv

Non-CT Milliseverts (mSv)

Hand radiograph Less than 0.1 mSv

Chest radiograph Less than 0.1 mSv

Mammogram 0.3 – 0.6 mSv

Barium enema exam 3 – 6 mSv

Coronary angiogram 5 – 10 mSv

Sestamibi myocardial perfusion (per injection) 6 – 9 mSv

Thallium myocardial perfusion (per injection) 26 – 35 mSv

Source: Cynthia H. McCullough, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 

—

Michael

Maybe this will help you some.

Here is the radiation dose calculator. It covers everything from x-rays to CT scans to Nuclear medicine.

 http://www.xrayrisk.com/calculator/calculator.php

 Here is some information on radiation dosage and here is where I got this information from:

 http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/safety/index.cfm?pg=sfty_xray

 The scientific unit of measurement for radiation dose, commonly referred to as effective dose, is the millisievert (mSv).

 Average annual background radiation is about 2.2-3 mSv average annually from naturally occurring radioactive materials and cosmic radiation from outer space.

These natural "background" doses vary throughout the country and world.

 PET scan radiation varies, but I believe it is usually around 7-8 mSv (millisieverts) which is comparable to about a 2 + year dose of background radiation. 

CT varies depending on the location as well. Whole body or abdomen and pelvis CT screening subjects the individual screened to radiation exposure from x rays at about 7-10 msv or comparable to about three years of background radiation. 

1 CT scan = about 7 mSv, so one could have a CT scan 4 times a year for 25 years, and their increased cancer risk is only 4.133% (693 mSv) after the 25 years. 

Typical effective radiation dose values.

Computed tomography Milliseverts (mSv)

Head CT 1 – 2 mSv

Pelvis CT 3 – 4 mSv

Chest CT 5 – 7 mSv

Abdomen CT 5 – 7 mSv

Abdomen/pelvis CT 8 – 11 mSv

Coronary CT angiography 5 – 12 mSv

Non-CT Milliseverts (mSv)

Hand radiograph Less than 0.1 mSv

Chest radiograph Less than 0.1 mSv

Mammogram 0.3 – 0.6 mSv

Barium enema exam 3 – 6 mSv

Coronary angiogram 5 – 10 mSv

Sestamibi myocardial perfusion (per injection) 6 – 9 mSv

Thallium myocardial perfusion (per injection) 26 – 35 mSv

Source: Cynthia H. McCullough, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 

—

Michael

I don't  know what is safe and what isn't but I can share my persoal experience:

I was diagnosed stage 3b 9/2008 and after over a year being NED, my onc decided to cut back PET/CT scans from every 3 months to every 6 months because I had done so well and she was concerned about radiation. The last three month scans were in 11/2009 and those scans were clear.

On June 18, 2010, a brain tumor that was not on that 11/2009 set of scans began bleeding into my brain requiring that I be airlifted to a neurosurgical ICU for an emergency craniotomy.

If she had done one more three month scan or had even gone to four months first, we could have caught that brain met before it was big enough to start bleeding. So I am a BIG believer in keeping up with scans because that brain met sure would have killed me before radiation from scans could have!

This isn't meant to scare you because each case and patient is completely different, just to say that it's kind of apples and oranges when you are dealing with melanoma that is so completely unpredictable. The radiation levels for CT scans are much lower than with PET scans so you might talk to your doctor about doing just CTs if that is a good option for you.

Now I get PET/CT and brain MRIs every three months and I'm glad for them!

Carmon in NM – Stage IIIb 9/2008, Stage IV 6/2010 with brain and adrenal mets, NED since 4/3/2011

I don't  know what is safe and what isn't but I can share my persoal experience:

I was diagnosed stage 3b 9/2008 and after over a year being NED, my onc decided to cut back PET/CT scans from every 3 months to every 6 months because I had done so well and she was concerned about radiation. The last three month scans were in 11/2009 and those scans were clear.

On June 18, 2010, a brain tumor that was not on that 11/2009 set of scans began bleeding into my brain requiring that I be airlifted to a neurosurgical ICU for an emergency craniotomy.

If she had done one more three month scan or had even gone to four months first, we could have caught that brain met before it was big enough to start bleeding. So I am a BIG believer in keeping up with scans because that brain met sure would have killed me before radiation from scans could have!

This isn't meant to scare you because each case and patient is completely different, just to say that it's kind of apples and oranges when you are dealing with melanoma that is so completely unpredictable. The radiation levels for CT scans are much lower than with PET scans so you might talk to your doctor about doing just CTs if that is a good option for you.

Now I get PET/CT and brain MRIs every three months and I'm glad for them!

Carmon in NM – Stage IIIb 9/2008, Stage IV 6/2010 with brain and adrenal mets, NED since 4/3/2011

Do you see a trend in all these messages?  Please follow your recommeded scan schedule.

Do you see a trend in all these messages?  Please follow your recommeded scan schedule.

I was worried about the same thing when my husband got Mel.  When I asked his doc, he kinda laughed and said that my husband was considered terminal at stage 4 and there was nothing they could do that could be any worse that that!!  Our first Oncologist did not believe in scans and I urged my husband to change doctors asap!  I'm not gonna do the "shoulda, woulda, coulda" regrets….but I strongly encourage you to keep up with your scans and if you feel things are unusual/changing with your body…push for earlier scans.  If your doctor's attitudes are not in line with yours, find a new doctor.  Scans are not going to kill you!  Melanoma can! 

I was worried about the same thing when my husband got Mel.  When I asked his doc, he kinda laughed and said that my husband was considered terminal at stage 4 and there was nothing they could do that could be any worse that that!!  Our first Oncologist did not believe in scans and I urged my husband to change doctors asap!  I'm not gonna do the "shoulda, woulda, coulda" regrets….but I strongly encourage you to keep up with your scans and if you feel things are unusual/changing with your body…push for earlier scans.  If your doctor's attitudes are not in line with yours, find a new doctor.  Scans are not going to kill you!  Melanoma can! 

Hi, I'm stage 2B (stats are worse than 3a), so I'm high-risk for recurrence.  My onc and I decided we'd do regular scans, so if anything pops up, we'd catch it early.  Hopefully by catching anything early, we can treat it.  My schedule is:

PET/CT – Every 6 months

Brain MRI – Once a year

Chest x-ray – Once a year

Blood work – Every 3 months (not necessarily for melanoma, but checking thyroid, Vit D,, Vit C, calcium, etc. 

I've been doing this for over 10 (NED) years now.  I've been accused of overkill, and how I might die from radiation poisoning before melanoma. I talked to my onc about it and she still agrees with me that the key to hopefully surviving melanoma is regular scans.  We both acknowledge that even WITH regular scans, melanoma can still come back with a vengeance, but like you said, she weighs the benefits against the risks.

That's MY protocol, I'm comfy with it, but everybody is different.  I'm thankful I have a good doc who cares, and that I have really good insurance that pays for my scans.

All my best to you!

~Lisa~

Hi, I'm stage 2B (stats are worse than 3a), so I'm high-risk for recurrence.  My onc and I decided we'd do regular scans, so if anything pops up, we'd catch it early.  Hopefully by catching anything early, we can treat it.  My schedule is:

PET/CT – Every 6 months

Brain MRI – Once a year

Chest x-ray – Once a year

Blood work – Every 3 months (not necessarily for melanoma, but checking thyroid, Vit D,, Vit C, calcium, etc. 

I've been doing this for over 10 (NED) years now.  I've been accused of overkill, and how I might die from radiation poisoning before melanoma. I talked to my onc about it and she still agrees with me that the key to hopefully surviving melanoma is regular scans.  We both acknowledge that even WITH regular scans, melanoma can still come back with a vengeance, but like you said, she weighs the benefits against the risks.

That's MY protocol, I'm comfy with it, but everybody is different.  I'm thankful I have a good doc who cares, and that I have really good insurance that pays for my scans.

All my best to you!

~Lisa~