jumpman50512 wrote:hello everyone
I hope you guys are doing great. Well, i just went to the doctor for the regular check-up and he did the signatera test and well it came out positive. Dang that sucked. Anyways another ct scan in 3 weeks. And my cea went high to 13 now. Pretty sure he's looking for something now. Just wondering has anyone had a reoccurrence removed without any chemo? I am scared of more chemo I remember it being so hard those final rounds.
thanks
boxhill wrote:If they are looking for liver masses an MRI is the scan of choice. Unfortunately, as my oncologist told be, they often have to "build a case" to get one approved by the insurance company. Your doctor will probably doing that with signatera + CTs + rising CEA. (Mine cited rising CEA even though there's never been any evidence that CEA is a marker for me. )
I_will_fight wrote:Just curious, how much can a MRI cost in the US?
I have paid for a couple of them out of pocket (for some other issues) and they were in the range of 250 USD, admittedly I did not use contrast, which should increase the price, but this is a test that can provide doctors with crucial data to make a decision.
Is it any more expensive than a CT Scan? I doubt it. Why do insurance companies object to authorizing MRIs?
crikklekay wrote:We haven't seen the bill for his MRI yet, so I'm not sure if it's more than a CT scan but it's definitely more than $250 USD without insurance. Without insurance using an imaging center and not in a hospital, John's CT scans are about $1,500 (we pay $300 with insurance). The ones he got in the hospital were $10,000 without insurance, with insurance the cost for us was $0 because we hit our $5,000 max out of pocket that year. Our system is stupidly expensive. Insurance companies hate spending money because they are a for-profit business, so being denied a claim is always a concern. John had to have his oncologist fight with the insurance company before on his behalf to get something approved when it was originally denied.
I_will_fight wrote:
Oh, this is wildly different from my country. I guess having to compete with a free social security drives the costs down in Spain.
beach sunrise wrote:Any extra information besides Signatera test was positive? Did you learn anything else?
I will be having the test on Thursday.
Brearmstrong wrote:I have had two signatera test. My understanding is that a profile of your initial tumor is created from original tissue. Then blood is drawn in present time and it compares it to your original profile. It does not note mutations or changes in genetic profile but only reports out positive or negative. If positive then it notes the level in mean tumor molecules per ml of plasma. Hope that helps.
Brenda
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