Jump to content

Pet scan


Recommended Posts

Great news--you'll know more after your bronchoscopy/biopsy, but I know that even though I was sure my nodule was cancerous, I was extremely relieved to have a PET CT where the nodule was the only thing that lit up.  That should make everything less complicated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The hospital have just phoned to say I need a cat scan on my head as it's better results than with a pet scan?don't they see with brain with.pet scan now I'm paranoid  thinking they are not telling me things,they have brought rigid bronchoscopy forward to the 1/2/19 does this sound scary to you s?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PET scans "light up" parts of the body that are using a lot of glucose.  Tumors work overtime, so they typically are consuming a lot more glucose than the surrounding tissues, which makes them easy to see.  But some parts of the body NATURALLY take up a lot of glucose--that includes the brain, as well as few other organs.  So they use a different imaging method to look for any possible metastasis in the brain.

As the others have said, this is pretty routine.  I didn't have one because my nodule was so small, there wasn't--at that point--any concern about the possibility of spread to the brain.   Bottom line--the fact that it's being ordered doesn't mean a thing, except that they are being thorough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The amount of testing necessary to get the right diagnosis is dizzying. I had a chest xray, chest CT scan, CT guided needle biopsy, whole body PET scan and a brain MRI within 4 wks. My oncologist said that lung cancer spreads to the liver and brain easily, so that's why they need the PET scan (to look at the rest of the body & liver) and the brain MRI. I had additional tests to be declared "fit for surgery" in addition to those mentioned above also in the 4 weeks. So like LexieCat said, it sounds like they are being thorough. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.