huckstep
Posts:6

I've asked my oncologist, and still don't really understand. I had numerous small asymptomatic lung cancer brain mets treated with alectinib. Three months later, the MRI report said, "Impression: No abnormal enhancing lesions. Too numerous to count foci of hypointense signal... " Three months after that, "some hypointense foci suggesting evidence of gliotic change... Impression:... No evidence of residual or recurrent metastatic disease...Stable negative exam."

I asked, so does that mean the brain mets are gone? No, it's a good report but we still need to watch them. Okay, what are hypointense foci? Didn't get a clear answer.

So what are hypointense foci? Are they a kind of brain mets? How do they usually behave or progress?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help clarify.

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Reply # - July 16, 2016, 10:44 AM

JimC
Posts: 2753

Hi huckstep,

"Hypointense foci" is just a radiologist's fifty-dollar term for dark spots seen on an MRI. They can represent a variety of different things, one of which is the effect of radiotherapy or chemotherapy on lesions. So a good explanation for them in your case would be that they represent the after-effects of treatment, which would lead the radiologist to state that your MRI is negative for metastases. But since the effects of treatment can be difficult to judge for quite a while, your oncologist may just be displaying caution before proclaiming that the metastases are gone.

JimC
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Reply # - July 16, 2016, 12:50 PM

huckstep
Posts: 6

Thank you! I was confused about the radiologist saying no mets, and the oncologist acting like I still had to worry about mets. But the oncologist being extra cautious makes sense.

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