Just so that we are all talking the same language here, when a medical test is "positive" that means that whatever was being tested for has been found to be true. For example, if your biopsy test for SCC was "Positive", then you have SCC. If the test was "Negative", then your biopsy would have ruled out SCC.

This is a common mistake because the typical English usage of the terms "positive" and "negative" are opposite from the medical usage.

"False Negative" is an odd term for PET. More typically they yield "False Positives" as any healing tissue or anatomic area with higher metabolic activity would display an enhanced uptake. It seems to me that a "false positive" PET would defy the laws of physics.

PET scans must also be used in conjunction with CT or MRI, either at the same time (as in "PET/CT") or by fusion of the 2 different imaging modalities, as there are no anatomical reference points on a pure PET scan and this compromises the ability to properly read it.

Scans are not the "gold standard" for diagnostics - they are only a small component and they must be read by a knowledgeable reading radiologist.

The punch or snip biopsy is and will continue to be the gold standard for cancer diagnosis.

Last edited by Gary; 03-30-2011 06:34 PM.
Gary Allsebrook
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Dx 11/22/02, SCC, 6 x 3 cm Polypoid tumor, rt tonsil, Stage III/IVA, T3N0M0 G1/2
Tx 1/28/03 - 3/19/03, Cisplatin ct x2, IMRT, bilateral, with boost, x35(69.96Gy)
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"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14 NIV)