Forum Discussion
Just starting the journey - so many questions!
I have just been diagnosed with grade 3 invasive ductile carcinoma. The tumor is 2cm x 2cm and the hormone status hasn't come back yet. I saw the surgeon the next afternoon and he has sent me straight...
@colthul, Hopefully you have had your PET scan by now and have good news. As some of the ladies above have stated, a PET scan is the gold standard imaging technique used initially to stage breast cancer (ie to see if it had spread beyond your breast). Sometimes, the breast surgeon will not think it has spread and therefore doesn't order a PET which is what happened to me. I had a friend at the appointment with me and she insisted that he refer me for a PET. Low and behold the cancer had already spread to pelvis making me stage 4. I know have PET scans every three months (combined with a CT scan) to check on progress. I haven't had a bone scan since I was diagnosed. I am a public patient and therefore doctors order PET scans whenever they want. However, if you are a private patient, a PET scan is expensive and you have to pay for some of it so doctors are more reluctant to order PET.