Re: Routine CT scans and CEA useful in follow-up of colorectal cancer

[Guest guest]

One thing you have to remember is that information in reports like

this often have been presented, sometimes years ago at meetings etc.

and may just be sitting in some backlog to be officially " published "

and for some reporter to find them. Although the conclusions that

they write are pretty common sense now, they might not have been a

few years ago, when maybe doctors placed more confidence on CEA

elevations to identify problems.

The question of how often CTs should be done to make a difference in

treatment as opposed to giving us patients a constant ulcer waiting

for test results is a good one.

In my case I was scanned two months and again a month before

progression of my disease was demonstrated on CT. It did not change

anything that they could do. It only gave me an idea about how very

fast things were growing.

> The thing that bothers me is that obviously somebody either just

guessed at it in the first place OR somebody got funding to do this

same research all over again.

>

>

> Priscilla A. Savary

> Executive Director

> Colorectal Cancer Network

> PO Box 182, Kensington MD 20895

>

> psavary@c...

> www.colon-cancer.net

> Routine CT scans and CEA useful

in follow-up of colorectal cancer

>

>

> (I thought we knew that ! !)

>

>

>

> Routine CT scans and CEA useful in follow-up of colorectal cancer

> Last Updated: May 13, 2004

>

>

>

> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Surveillance CT scans and serum

> carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measurements yield valuable

> information in the postoperative management of patients after

> adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a

> report in the April 15th Journal of Clinical Oncology.

>

>

[Guest guest]

One thing you have to remember is that information in reports like

this often have been presented, sometimes years ago at meetings etc.

and may just be sitting in some backlog to be officially " published "

and for some reporter to find them. Although the conclusions that

they write are pretty common sense now, they might not have been a

few years ago, when maybe doctors placed more confidence on CEA

elevations to identify problems.

The question of how often CTs should be done to make a difference in

treatment as opposed to giving us patients a constant ulcer waiting

for test results is a good one.

In my case I was scanned two months and again a month before

progression of my disease was demonstrated on CT. It did not change

anything that they could do. It only gave me an idea about how very

fast things were growing.

> The thing that bothers me is that obviously somebody either just

guessed at it in the first place OR somebody got funding to do this

same research all over again.

>

>

> Priscilla A. Savary

> Executive Director

> Colorectal Cancer Network

> PO Box 182, Kensington MD 20895

>

> psavary@c...

> www.colon-cancer.net

> Routine CT scans and CEA useful

in follow-up of colorectal cancer

>

>

> (I thought we knew that ! !)

>

>

>

> Routine CT scans and CEA useful in follow-up of colorectal cancer

> Last Updated: May 13, 2004

>

>

>

> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Surveillance CT scans and serum

> carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measurements yield valuable

> information in the postoperative management of patients after

> adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a

> report in the April 15th Journal of Clinical Oncology.

>

>

[Guest guest]

One thing you have to remember is that information in reports like

this often have been presented, sometimes years ago at meetings etc.

and may just be sitting in some backlog to be officially " published "

and for some reporter to find them. Although the conclusions that

they write are pretty common sense now, they might not have been a

few years ago, when maybe doctors placed more confidence on CEA

elevations to identify problems.

The question of how often CTs should be done to make a difference in

treatment as opposed to giving us patients a constant ulcer waiting

for test results is a good one.

In my case I was scanned two months and again a month before

progression of my disease was demonstrated on CT. It did not change

anything that they could do. It only gave me an idea about how very

fast things were growing.

> The thing that bothers me is that obviously somebody either just

guessed at it in the first place OR somebody got funding to do this

same research all over again.

>

>

> Priscilla A. Savary

> Executive Director

> Colorectal Cancer Network

> PO Box 182, Kensington MD 20895

>

> psavary@c...

> www.colon-cancer.net

> Routine CT scans and CEA useful

in follow-up of colorectal cancer

>

>

> (I thought we knew that ! !)

>

>

>

> Routine CT scans and CEA useful in follow-up of colorectal cancer

> Last Updated: May 13, 2004

>

>

>

> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Surveillance CT scans and serum

> carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measurements yield valuable

> information in the postoperative management of patients after

> adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a

> report in the April 15th Journal of Clinical Oncology.

>

>

[Guest guest]

The question of how to test and how often is a tough one, since

unfortunately, none of these tests are perfect. I had CT and PET

scans before and after neoadjuvant therapy for my rectal carcinoma.

The followup scans were done within two weeks of surgery. Things

looked great, with improvement of my PET scan. Everyone was pleased

and thought that I had a good chance of cure. It was not until they

opened me up at surgery that they found seeding of my peritoneum.

Although even the surgeons and pathologist do not always find

everything, blood tests and imaging tests have not put them out of

business yet. Unfortunately, neither CT or PET is particularly

sensitive for this type of metastasis.

I did have another PET scan just before my peritonectomy to make

certain nothing new had cropped up that would make surgery useless.

I have not had another since last year, however, because it would

not change much what they do. I contemplated bringing up the idea

of a laparascopic look and see when I developed some ascites at one

point. Then I realized symptoms and CT at this point are probably

good enough to tell if chemo is failing miserably. I am not a

surgical candidate unless I get some sort of symptoms.

I did have a cystoscopy a couple of weeks ago because I was passing

blood clots in my urine. They found small nodules in my bladder.

They were probably only 4 mm wide and so did not show up on CT. I

would not have trusted them to show up on a PET scan even if they

were metastases, so I went for getting them biopsied and cauterized.

The biopsy came back benign, hurray! Unfortunately this has not

resolved my intermittant bleeding, and so will probably delay my

oncologist's plans to give me Avastin.

Kris..... making do with living in an imperfect world.

> Kris,

> I would like to add to this as well. My mother, as part of the

clinical trial she was on for 26 treatments ( Oxi and Alimta ) was

required to have ct scans every other treatment, every 6 weeks

basically. As I look back on the countless CT reports I see the same

comments over and over.. STABLE.... So we thought logically that

things were good. The chemo was doing what we hopes, keeping the

tumors in check... however the CT scan is not as sophisicated as we

may like to think. Tumors need to be a certain size to be detected.

What we did not know until she was forced into having surgery in

November 2003 ( a year and a half after commencing her trial ) is

that she has " thousands " of nodules all along her intestines and

throughout her abdominal and pelvic cavities.... no CT scan was ever

going to pick these up.

> I am in favor of CT scans, please don't get me wrong however they

are not always the best barometer or test for growth or regrowth. I

would like to see a push for PET scans as being the true test and

ofcourse I would love to see some far more advanced come in the

future.. perhaps laposcopic exploritory surgeries...

> a

>