I will be going for my after treatment PET scan 01/21/2013, prayers welcomed! All my ENT monthly checkups have been ok.
Thanks
Mickey
Good luck From Hockey Dad. Mine is 30 days from today.
Best of luck to both of you. Prayers too.
Wish you all the best. I have my PET in March
Completed PET scan. Results, they said they saw some light evidence around the original site. They said they are concerned but not positive it is anything. They think it may still be activity at the previous site, had surgery and of course radiation/chemo. They said it barely shows up and want to do another CAT scan in 6 to 8 weeks.
I see my ENT on 02/22, and he will have a copy of the scan. I will ask him if this is 'common'?
Still worried a bit.
Mickey
Does anyone here see this a common thing?
If you go to the place of testing, they can give you a copy of the PET report, if you care to know sooner. Hard to say what they are concerned about, but light evidence may be slight uptake in the PET, increase or no shrinkage at tumor sight? Anyway, no scan can prove cancer 100 percent, and after surgery, chemoradiation, it is difficult to differentiate scar tissue from a malignancy, and may show false positives, that's why they want to do another CT to see if there is any change from now, and the next scan, but dates seem a little far to see the dr. Maybe they can do an MRI now, but each are good in certain aspects. Best of luck.
Mickey
YES, I see showing "light evidence" (presumably higher SUV)in a PETscan 4 months after treatment for BOT as VERY COMMON. Remember all a PETscan does is measure sugar uptake, not cancer. Since the normal cells in your mouth, especially near the base of tongue suck up sugar big time when trying to recover from TX, on a PETscan, it looks exactly the same. For that reason, my CCC will only do post TX Petscans at least six months after TX. At the 3 month mark, they do an MRI instead.
While you can get a copy of your Petscan, it will just scare you unnecessarily in my opinion but if you remain calm about it, then you could underline the parts you want to ask your ENT about.
The scan schedule they put you on seems normal to me.
Don't get me wrong, PETscans are great before TX since the cells haven't been damaged by TX, so they can highlight the abnormal sugar uptake by the cancer. PETscans really help the RO plot out the radiation field. But once you've had TX, they are not reliable for at least six months.
Trust me, I know just how worrisome these scans are. Even after 13 scans over these 5 years, I worry worry worry about each one. I just try not to let it get out of control.
Oh, and PETscans are also wonderful in spotting lymph node cancer, and have been a major factor in eliminating unnecessary neck dissections. But it strikes me as strange how many doctors just don't get it about early PETscans for base of tongue cancer.
Charm
I have the copies of the CD with the Pet scan. Does anyone know what to look for to figure out what the uptake was. We were told no uptake but the radiologist has no significant uptake in his report. Since it was 4.7 six months ago I was interested in finding out if there is still a raise in uptake that they just figure to be insignificant for whatever reason. This was not at the original site, just nearby.
Thank you both. I feel better and will contact ENT (he is getting a copy).
Thanks again!
Mickey
Charm's right. I - thankfully - never had this experience but from what I hear around here and know is that healing areas are generally highly metabolic, therefore use more energy and take up more sugar, Inflammation, and infection also show up as well. I am not sure about waiting that always concerns me - but the only other option would be a visual look and possible biopsy.
hopefully it's nothing. Hugs and best wishes.
Going to ENT Friday, 02/22/13, Will ask about the scans. I did notice my hair and mustache is coming back, which is a nice surprise because I thought everything from the nose down to the shoulders was gone for good. Nothing on my neck is coming back, but that's ok.
My neck does hurt some when I lye on my side, but I read in HockyDad's post this is not uncommon, I will bring it up to my ENT Friday, but it is not bad... I will also Ask if I should drink beer, or not.
I did go to my regular MD and he said my Thyroid was fine and my blood work was fine. They did an ultrasound on my Thyroid..and blood tests of course. He had the numbers from my previous tests from a year or two ago, before the cancer.. He is the one that referred me to the ENT who found the cancer, so I trust him.
Guess I will have CAT scan in about 2-3 months... Thanks for all your help and suggestions and encouragement.