Thank you...thank you...thank you... - 1257187

dkm5859
Posts:89

A HUGE thank you to everyone for their well wishes and prayers for my Mother recently for her to hopefully have a good/great PET/CT scan. While their was/is at least one note of caution per the radiologist writing the report and my Mom's doctor's also..this one area still has to be followed very closely but it is still likely no issue and God willing it is not and will not be. I hope all of you and your loved ones continue with good findings and or health, or improve greatly and everyone becomes and or reamins NED, or all are eventually CURED!! I realize she is NOT 'out of the woods' but I hope she will be and all of you likewise. Thanks again and sincerely God bless and take care.
Hopefully now..my sister and one of the my canine members of our family will get great news also. Take care all!!
I will have a couple questions for some of you later on. Thanks in advance.

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Reply # - June 11, 2013, 01:54 PM

catdander
Posts:

I'm so glad your mom has gotten positive scan results. Congratulations! I too wish everyone could experience remarkable results...Someday, someday...

I hope for your mom all the treatment and rotten side effects translate into the best possible outcomes.
Keep us posted,
Janine

Reply # - June 13, 2013, 01:23 PM

dkm5859
Posts: 89

here is one of the follow-ups:
My Mom: Stage 3A adeno ALK +. ULL removed in 08/12 followed w/ concurrent chemo and radiation..chemo was carbo & paclitaxol.
She has been through A LOT..just like so many of you and your loved ones... she is steadily improving and so far her follow-up scans have been good to very good BUT... their remains a section near her radiation treatment window that his lit up on her past two PET/CT's.
The PET/CT on 03/04/13 had what the doctor called very high intensity..her rad treatment ended in early December...now..her most recent PET/CT on 06/07/13 for the same section did not light up nearly as much but the radiologist who wrote the report stated that "residual maliginancy cannot be ruled out as it cannot be definitively determined".
Has anyone else heard of or experienced this themselves? Or does this sound logical? My Mom's radiation oncologist stated that he was/is very, very pleased and happy with the latest PET/CT? He also stated that he is fairly certain that this section is not a maliginant lesion/tumor as it appears to have holes in the area which lit up. Is this true or anyone experience this also? Sincerely and thank you very much.

Reply # - June 13, 2013, 08:47 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

It's very common for there to be some ambiguity, and radiologists are extremely likely to cast a wide net of diagnoses and be as non-committal as possible, but the pattern of change over time is very instructive. We'd expect viable cancer to become more hypermetabolic and bigger on scans over time. Improvement in either size or metabolic uptake over time is not consistent with the biology of a viable cancer. Never say never, but a pattern of improvement over time is reassuring.

Good luck.

-Dr. West

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