Scans post adjuvant chemo
Happy Friday afternoon everyone! As I am having adjuvant chemo as opposed to neoadjuvant, how does one tell if the chemo has been effective? Do they do tumour markers/full body scans at the end ...
Forum Discussion
@youngdogmum,
At the end of the first 12 months (since surgery date) I had mammo, u/s and MRI. I don't trust the first two on their own (long back story). Physical examination is a waste of time with me as nobody could ever feel the original tumour and now since surgery and rads, the darn thing is still pretty hard so I highly doubt they would ever feel anything if I can't.
My second yearly MRI picked up some weird thing that the other two couldn't and no one knows what it is, so I've been having MRI's every three months. At the last one they threw in an u/s and mammo and a CT as well.
See what your surgeon recommends as they are normally the ones that line up all the follow up scans. There's lots of variables given your own particular situation as to what they will recommend.
I'm not up on the recon side of things, but I have heard of a baseline MRI after reconstruction so they can tell if anything changes.
@kmakm I'm surprised they haven't suggested this baseline for you given the family history and genetic test results. At least that way you would have a 12 monthly update. Might give you some peace of mind being able to check up on it yearly.
xoxoxo
At the end of the first 12 months (since surgery date) I had mammo, u/s and MRI. I don't trust the first two on their own (long back story). Physical examination is a waste of time with me as nobody could ever feel the original tumour and now since surgery and rads, the darn thing is still pretty hard so I highly doubt they would ever feel anything if I can't.
My second yearly MRI picked up some weird thing that the other two couldn't and no one knows what it is, so I've been having MRI's every three months. At the last one they threw in an u/s and mammo and a CT as well.
See what your surgeon recommends as they are normally the ones that line up all the follow up scans. There's lots of variables given your own particular situation as to what they will recommend.
I'm not up on the recon side of things, but I have heard of a baseline MRI after reconstruction so they can tell if anything changes.
@kmakm I'm surprised they haven't suggested this baseline for you given the family history and genetic test results. At least that way you would have a 12 monthly update. Might give you some peace of mind being able to check up on it yearly.
xoxoxo