Scans that help detect cancer

[hellohellooo]

Hello all

My friend was asking about these and I had no idea such a thing existed

Apparently there is
Costs 1-2k and can detect early cancer (full body scan)

Any ideas ?

Wow where can these be done?

I had one done but it wasn't done privately, it was done after I had a large bi lateral saddle PE in both lungs plus right side of my heart and dvt they were classed as unprovoked and when they can't find a cause it can sometimes mean there is a hidden cancer so I had a full head to toe body scan that does it in slices to check for a hidden cancer anywhere in my body that may have caused the blood clots , luckily nothing was found . This was done at my local hospital after I had already had a CTAP scan done of my chest .

Gosh how are you now?

I heard there are places in London

Just wonder how effective they are?

I'm good now thankyou , I have just passed the 2 year mark and I just need to have a final echocardiogram to see how my heart is doing because the clots had caused some minor damage when they passed through and blocked up the heart but other than that I'm recovering well and I will be on blood thinners for life because it was just one of those things no known cause and the full body scan showed no cancer at all so I believe they are reliable. I don't know about London but I'm sure they probably will have if we have them up north in my small town in Lancashire, I was in that scanner for a while because it's very thorough because it takes the images in slices so it can detect even the smallest of cancers at the earliest time so I felt it was reliable at the time and obviously 2 years down the line nothing further has shown up . If I was worried about anything and I had the money to pay private for another one of these scans I would definitely do it again for reassurance but because I have had a few in the last few years I won't be scanned again for health reasons . I hope you get the answers you are looking for , I wouldn't have even thought this scan was available if I hadn't have had one myself I thought it was all done via blood work and ultrasounds .

I mean, yes, of course, there are full body scans that may detect cancer.

I have cancer. Every time I have a scan (CT, MRI and PET), I have to be told that one of the risks is that they may detect a totally new cancer I didn’t even know about.

But these don’t come without risks. The CT and MRI dyes can have complications. The MRI dye in particular is quite nasty in terms of side effects. There have been fatal reactions to both. If anything weird pops up on the MRI in my head, it’s likely an automatic 12 month driving ban. The PET scan, every time I have one, it’s 8 years of background radiation pumped into me because the dye is radioactive. That alone puts me at risk for cancer, some other new sort.

It’s not something I’d be doing preventatively, even as someone with metastatic cancer. What we do need though is excellent accessible primary care and swift referrals. I’m not sure my type of cancer would have shown up on a scan early on as it wasn’t a solid tumour. But had the GP believed me and referred me the first time I presented and said, is this cancer? It would have likely been only stage 1 or 2.

My goodness

Thank you for such a detailed reply

I hope you are doing well now

That's such a helpful explanation!!!!

I didn't even know about mri dye because none of the mri's I've ever had done used them, eg mri when I broke my back.

Nor did I!!!

I am not a healthcare practitioner but I assume the dye is only used in an MRI scan when it's to detect cancer. I had an MRI scan as part of a research study looking at brain function and there was no dye involved.

Ok yes that makes sense