? about no scan just thyrogen

[Guest guest]

I had a 1 cm pap cancerous nodule on my left lobe. I had a TT and

have been on synthroid. My levels are at 0.11 ( which the endo said

was fine)

I went today and we talked about my 6 month scan ( which would be

this month) I just moved to las vegas ( and this is a new endo that

i have seen 2 times)

He told me that my pathology reports came back wonderful, the nodule

was capsuled and contained and very small, and did not spread

anywhere...SOOOOOO, in 8-10 months ( from the time of the surgery)

he wants to do the thyrogen. I said ok, we desided july would be

good, and the nurse cam in to go over it with me... i asked about

the WBS she said you don't need one... i was like HUH? I had the dr

come back in and he said Since I am sooooooooooo LOW risk of any

cancer coming back or any that could be left over that i do not need

the scan unless the blood work comes back elavated..... I think I

remember my old endo saying she would do the thyrogen only after a

clean scan... ( she is very aggressive, and i was given 150 mc of

RAI. ( i was suposed to only get 100, but the radologist guy messed

up, did not see her notes and gave me 150) Any how the new endo

said he would never of even given me that much, and possible would

of given me a very low, stay at home amount.... So i think he is a

bit less agressive, but yet, i think he is very smart, and has a lot

of cancer patients. SOOOOOO, i am not sure what to do, I was really

upset at first, when i think i should of been happy, ( low risk is

nice to hear) but, I want to be 100% sure....if the thyrogen comes

back not elevated, does that mean i am fine? if so then why don't

more people just use it? low risk or not, if it is pretty accurate,

why not use it?

ok thanks for the information

jodi in las vegas

[Guest guest]

Hi Jodi;

The part about having just bloodwork no WBS on thyrogen is a newer

protocol they are trying. Apparently it is just as accurate to test

for thyroglobulin (TG) when hypo via thyrogen as do do both, the TG

test and the scan on thyrogen. Thats the way I'm having my Thyrogen

testing done this year, after having a WBS on Thyrogen last year and

having a clean traditional scan the year before.

Thyrogen is pretty accurate, but not 100% - the initial clinical

trials showed there were instances of patients who showed no sign of

disease under thyrogen, showing recurrence under withdrawal scans.

Typically one has a clean scan the withdrawal way first, that way

its known that there is no apparent remaining thryoid tissue. Then

Thyrogen is used for follow up, through TG testing WBS or both.

barb

> he wants to do the thyrogen. I said ok, we desided july would be

> good, and the nurse cam in to go over it with me... i asked about

> the WBS she said you don't need one... i was like HUH? I had the

dr

> come back in and he said Since I am sooooooooooo LOW risk of any

> cancer coming back or any that could be left over that i do not

need

> the scan unless the blood work comes back elavated..... I think I

> remember my old endo saying she would do the thyrogen only after a

> clean scan... if the thyrogen comes

> back not elevated, does that mean i am fine? if so then why don't

> more people just use it? low risk or not, if it is pretty

accurate,

> why not use it? s

[Guest guest]

Hi Jodi,

I had a 0.8 cm cancerous nodule in my thyroid and a malignant lymph

node. I had 150 mCi and, so far, 1 clean scan. Last time I went to

see my endo (I go to a teaching hospital so there was a teacher endo

and a student endo), we all agreed that I needed another scan in a year

or two. Then the teacher endo conferred with the student endo re.

thyrogen. I was shaking my head, so the teacher endo asked if I didn't

want to do thyrogen and I told him that I would prefer another hypo

scan. He asked me why and I told him that I'd heard that Genzyme

recommended 2 clean hypo scans before proceeding with thyrogen scans

and I would prefer to stick to that regimen since going hypo didn't

really bother me. It was a good talk and he agreed with me.

I guess my point in this story is to say that if you're not comfortable

with the regimen proposed by your endo, ask him about the Genzyme

recommendation on their own drug, Thyrogen, and tell him that you don't

want to vary too far from their recommendations without a good reason.

Especially since the protocol of having hypo scans is generally

followed and I would assume, is the reason why thyca is believed to be

so curable.

Hope this helps.

Betty

mailto bettyy at earthlink dot net

TT: 7/00

RAI: 9/00 (150 mCi)

1st Scan: 10/01 (Uncertain)

2nd Scan: 8/02 (Clean!)

> I had a 1 cm pap cancerous nodule on my left lobe. I had a TT and

> have been on synthroid. My levels are at 0.11 ( which the endo said

> was fine)

> I went today and we talked about my 6 month scan ( which would be

> this month) I just moved to las vegas ( and this is a new endo that

> i have seen 2 times)

> He told me that my pathology reports came back wonderful, the nodule

> was capsuled and contained and very small, and did not spread

> anywhere...SOOOOOO, in 8-10 months ( from the time of the surgery)

> he wants to do the thyrogen. I said ok, we desided july would be

> good, and the nurse cam in to go over it with me... i asked about

> the WBS she said you don't need one... i was like HUH? I had the dr

> come back in and he said Since I am sooooooooooo LOW risk of any

> cancer coming back or any that could be left over that i do not need

> the scan unless the blood work comes back elavated..... I think I

> remember my old endo saying she would do the thyrogen only after a

> clean scan... ( she is very aggressive, and i was given 150 mc of

> RAI. ( i was suposed to only get 100, but the radologist guy messed

> up, did not see her notes and gave me 150) Any how the new endo

> said he would never of even given me that much, and possible would

> of given me a very low, stay at home amount.... So i think he is a

> bit less agressive, but yet, i think he is very smart, and has a lot

> of cancer patients. SOOOOOO, i am not sure what to do, I was really

> upset at first, when i think i should of been happy, ( low risk is

> nice to hear) but, I want to be 100% sure....if the thyrogen comes

> back not elevated, does that mean i am fine? if so then why don't

> more people just use it? low risk or not, if it is pretty accurate,

> why not use it?

> ok thanks for the information

> jodi in las vegas

>

[Guest guest]

Jodi, can you guys compromise and do thyrogen after two clean scans?--

-Jan