Is there benefit in finding mets early? He told me right from the start (at diagnosis) that when mets are found, treatment will follow, but finding them early does not increase the time of survival. That really puzzled me; it didn't make sence. I wondered, what if a person lets mets go on and on, untreated, then what? Wouldn't you die earlier if the mets were not treated? It would seem so, unless none of the treatments were of benefit to you.
I asked him again the last time I saw him...what is the thought behind finding and treating mets early?
He said it is controversial. Some oncs believe finding them earlier is better; that the tumor burden is smaller and easier to manage. He agrees with that logic; that finding it earlier could lead to a longer survival time.
We have read, though, remarks from many people who have posted here, that their oncs do not believe in doing markers. They wait until symptoms show up, then run tests.
I think some of us feel the most comfortable when we believe we are being as aggressive as possible with our with our cancer; that by finding it early, we will benefit. I guess each of us knows what we have to do to cope; and if we feel better using markers, and our oncs agree to letting us do so, then we are more at peace. Everyone has to do their own thing when determining how they can best handle this disease.
Below I have pasted some remarks from Dr. Pegram, that relate to this topic.
Tumor Markers
What is your opinion of having markers done?
I do them. They’re not very good, but I do them once in a while. It’s about like the barometric pressure. “How’s the weather today?” Oh its 760 millimeters of mercury today; well that’s one atmosphere, so that tells you maybe it’s not high or low but it doesn’t tell you the temp, clouds, precip. So that’s exactly the analogy I would make of the tumor markers. They’re a piece of a puzzle; by themselves they’re virtually worthless. But I still give them.
Do positive or negative hormones make a difference?
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It doesn’t matter. I tend to dismiss the subset analysis because the numbers get so small that you can’t really interpret them.
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In regards to a health maintenance program when considering scans; how often to do them? Brain scans?
We don’t do any. I wouldn’t do any. Unnecessary radiation exposure. Just get a history, a physical examination and some blood work and that’s it, unless you have symptoms or an abnormal blood test.
<O
What about the brain?
Same thing. If you don’t have any symptoms you shouldn’t need a brain scan.
I (Barb) prefer at least a yearly brain scan.<O