I had a recent PET scan done, an need clarifaction on a result...First some general info..I have colon cancer, terminal, Doctors told me I had 5% chance to live 5 yrs, that was 2 yrs ago...I did not go thru the chemo or radition treatments because I was told other than ruining what was left of my pelvic area an male functions, it would serve no real purpose..Increase my chance to live by an additional 5% assuming my body could handle it...I am 39 yrs of age...Now to my question...This was on the result of the scan, but I do not understand, an my oncologist lacks the ability to speak lawmen terms...
A left inguinal lymph node has a maximum SUV value of 3.3. This could represent a reactive lymph node..
There is increased uptake seen near the anus with a maximum SUV value of 4.8....
What does that all mean in lawmen terms please
thank you
Reply # - May 19, 2015, 11:10 AM
Hi lionsole,
Hi lionsole,
An SUV value of 3.3 can mean your lymph node is responding to infection or inflammation as it should hence reactive. The best way to know is comparison in a follow up scan.
An increase could mean the tumor is progressing though how much would be better measured compared to the prior SUV. A few decimal points could also mean the difference in sugars consumed or energy expended near the time (12 hours or so) before scans.
The best measure of cancer progression typically is clinical symptoms and CT scans. PETs can cause more stress than add meaningful information at this point.
At this time we don't have information specifically on colon cancer. Since different cancers have different uptakes I've linked this info specific to colon cancer and PET
"E. WHAT IS SUV (STANDARDIZED UPTAKE VALUE)?
Cancers show up as foci/areas of intense activity since cancer cells are more active and take up a lot of FDG. There can be other causes of intense activity such as inflammation, infection, or muscle activity. Measuring the SUV (standardized uptake value) is a semi-quantitative way to assess the activity in a given focus or area.
SUV represents the amount of activity in the focus relative to the activity in the other (normal) areas of the body. Typically, the SUV value of a metastatic lesion is above 2.5. The pattern of activity (the distribution of lesions in the different parts of the body) is also very important as different cancers have different preferential sites of metastasis. Also, patient’s history and findings on other anatomic imaging like CT scans and MRI are taken into consideration while reading the PET scans. Ultimately, all the SUV truly represents is a way for radiologists to identify the intensity of the brightness of the tissues the scan is measuring." http://www.colorectal-cancer.ca/en/screening/pet-cancer/
I hope this is helpful,
Janine