I finished inducation therapy on April 4th, and had a re-staging pet yesterday. My oncologist is jumping for joy, but I'm still not clear on what this all means. Part of the problem, is that neither doctor could check my throat to tell me what is left of the cancer. The radiologist's scope/TV screen was broken.

My first Pet stated my cancer was Stage 3 - 4.6cm x 3.1 cm x 4.9 cm. SUV 11.7. 2 nodes 8mm SUV 3.3 and 3.8 bilaterally.

New pet. Does not say size of tumer but SUV reduced from 11.7 as follows (1) whole body images mostly midline to right BOT SUV 2.9 and (2) dedicated head neck images more to the left of midline max SUV 3.7, previously 11.7. There is interval nonvisualization of hypermetabolic foci in neck lymph nodes.

What does SUV 2.9 and 3.7 signify. What is the Pet Scan SUV for normal tissues?

Since it's states "nonvisualization in lymph nodes." does that mean it gone in that area?

I'm upset that I couldn't get a visual of the tumor as I'm especially interested in the epiglottis involvement. But since I'm to start radiation soon, I get a chance to get some pictures.

Here's another question. My doctor says I will still receive 2 Gy's/5 days/7 weeks through Tomotherapy. When the cancer strinks due to chemotherapy, why doesn't the radiation dosage and/or radiation time change??? Who/What has determined that 2 Gy's/5 days/7 weeks is standard dosage.

I'm happy with the Pet, but still confused.
Sandy

Sandy,

When I had my Pet I was told that they don't consider anything 3.0 or lower to be suspicious. With that said my SUV was 2.9 and a FNA later confirmed SCC. Remember the Pet is designed to show the metabolic uptake of the radioactive glucose they inject with the premise that since cancer cells grow at a faster rate than normal cells, they will consume more "food" and therefore "light up" that area and the brighter the light, the more active the cells are and the more active they are, the more likely it is cancer after excluding other possibilities like cell repair scenarios.

In a case of a decreased SUV one would have to conclude that the activity in that area had decreased from the first SUV which would be a positive sign that the cancer is smaller and/or less active.