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Interview with Dr. Manning, Expert Radiologist: Pitfalls of Cancer Imaging
The second part of my interview with Dr. Kristin Manning (part 1 here), expert radiologist at Seattle Radiologists, follows up on the basic principles of the cancer workup and turns to the limitations of our ability to clarify tough lesions. Understandably, many patients and caregivers are frustrated to learn that after multiple imaging studies, from a CT to a PET scan to an MRI and sometimes more, we still sometimes can’t say with certainty whether a questionable lesion represents cancer or something else. How could that be? Dr. Manning discusses how a tough lesion appears questionable despite plenty of good scans and smart radiologists trying to interpret them. Along with discussing the frequent benign lesions that cause anxiety for patients and their doctors as we try to sort them from cancer, she also discusses the still open question about risk from radiation involved in imaging for cancer.
As always, you’ll find below the audio and video versions of the podcast, along with the transcript and figures.
dr-manning-pitfalls-in-cancer-imaging-audio-podcast
dr-manning-pitfalls-in-cancer-imaging-transcript
dr-manning-pitfalls-in-cancer-imaging-figures
It’s hard to believe that with all of our advances in imaging we still can’t reliably determine the cause of the lesions we see, but even the improvements in the field leave us making educated guesses and relying on follow-up over time, along with judicious use of biopsies, to help clarify what’s going on. I hope this is helpful.
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One Response to Interview with Dr. Manning, Expert Radiologist: Pitfalls of Cancer Imaging
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Dr. Manning and Dr. West -
Thank you for another excellent, clear presentation. Very much appreciated. The information about the high frequency of lesions or secondary nodules in lungs, liver, kidneys, adrenals was enlightening. So, not every lesion or nodule equals cancer? That’s relatively good news.
I’m glad you discussed radiation risks. As a “younger” patient with advanced lung cancer, I continue to explore the optimum frequency of CT scans to assess the effectiveness of treatment. My oncologist has pretty much left it up to me how often to have scans. His expressed preference is less frequent scanning due to radiation risks and the lack of treatment options should we find anything, given that I’ve been through Tarceva (unsuccessful), carbo/taxol (successful), and am now on Alimta, which appears to be working based on last scan (December 2009). I share his concern, but as the patient, I also want to know what is going on so we can catch any progression in a timely fashion and try to figure out what to do. The information in your presentation helps. Am also glad to learn that CT and MRI for brain mets are almost equivalent for basic detection, though the MRI is better for assessing extent of mets.
- Catharine