Katester Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 I recently had a PET scan that couldn't confirm or rule out cancer. Why couldn't the PET scan do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Unfortunately, no test short of a biopsy is conclusive about cancer (and even biopsies can be inconclusive!). PET scans are very good but sometimes there is some uptake that will be read as indeterminate and you end up with the old "use clinical correlation" or "follow-up scans in 3 months recommended" line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teresag Posted December 11, 2004 Share Posted December 11, 2004 Just to expand a bit on Dr. Joe's answer, the PET "lights up" highly metabolically active tissues, such as inflamed joints. So if you have ordinary arthritis, for example, your joints will enhance on a PET scan. That is why they are sometimes indeterminate - anything that makes the tissue process the radioactive glucose compound quickly will cause a spot to "light up" on the PET image. (BTW, the amount of radiation is very small.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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