A more recent retrospective analysis co-authored by Mike Yao, MD, clinical associate professor of otolaryngology at New York Medical College in Valhalla, instead suggests that patients with negative three-month scans derive limited benefit from subsequent PET/CT surveillance (Cancer. 2013;119:1349-1356). “What we say in the paper is that you probably should only use it if you have some sort of suspicion: The patient might have pain or there might be swelling; there might be something there that you can’t account for,” he said. “If you can’t find a problem, PET/CT probably isn’t going to change that patient’s outcome at all.”
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September 2013Nevertheless, Dr. Yao said his group’s results are unlikely to yield much change in physician behavior, due to lingering perceptions that a PET/CT scan remains a sensitive method for detecting recurrences. “Unless someone comes in and says, ‘You need to save some money and this is not a good use of resources,’” he said, “I think doctors are going to continue to order them.”