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Total body scan saving lives
By Heather M. Smith, Staff writer
Two years ago P.C., a 66-year-old woman, came to Dr. Dennis Birenbaum’s cancer center for a total body scan. She had no symptoms of any disease, but she liked the price being offered by the center.
During the scan, doctors found kidney cancer. The mass appeared to be isolated and because it was detected, doctors were able to remove it. Today she is alive and well and has no evidence of any disease.
“We were able to save her,” Birenbaum said. “She was completely asymptomatic, but she came in for the scan.”
Total body scans are being offered at the Patients' Comprehensive Cancer Center in Carrollton and the McKinney Regional Cancer Center. Birenbaum established the Texas Hematology/Oncology Center, which now has offices in Plano. The Carrollton facility opened in 2001, followed by the 2006 opening of the facility in McKinney.
A total body scan is done by a computed tomography (CT) scanner. It is not enclosed like an MRI. A CT scanner is one part x-ray and three parts computer, and produces a very clear 3-D image of the inside of a person’s body. The procedure involves a person lying on a table, breath held, arms over their head, as the table moves through the scan. It takes about 10 minutes and images a patient from the top of the chest to the bottom of the pelvis.
The test can pick up different types of cancer, masses, causes of internal bleeding, and numerous other conditions.
Last year, when the clinics offered the reduced-price scan, out of 475 patients who responded, 40 had abnormalities. Of those 40, 29 were diagnosed with cancer. Birenbaum recommends that everyone that can have the scan should get one. An economic study has shown that early detection of cancer can save patients hundreds of thousands of dollars and can prolong their lives.
Birenbaum said that a person with a "positive cancer family syndrome" has an increased risk of cancer. A "positive cancer family" is one in which at least 20 percent of the total number of family members in two generations has some form of malignancy.
“If a patient falls into the cancer family syndrome, then doing a total body scan is beneficial to them,” Birenbaum said. “There’s no question that early detection increases and improves the chances of survival tenfold.”
Another person who benefited from the total body scan was A.J. He was also asymptomatic, but the test detected a mass. He was sent to a vascular surgeon, who said the scan saved his life.
The typical price for the scan is anywhere from $1,700 to $2,300, but currently the centers are offering the scan for $300.
For information about the total body scan or to make an appointment call 972-488-7308. Scans must be scheduled and completed by Jan. 31.
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