Dona Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Ok group, is it normal for a biopsy before a PET? I had a CT last week, but wanted a full body PET to see if there's any other areas that 'light up'. The biomarker would identify type of cancer, ie lung vs uterine metastasis, right? My biopsy is schedule for this coming Wednesday, so happy for the quick turnaround but cant help wondering why the biopsy is.first and not PET. Any insight out there? Also have not yet met the oncologist so dont have a rappport yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Galli Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Dona, Actually, both a biopsy and PET scan should be done before a treatment course is designed. The biopsy diagnoses the type of lung cancer. If your biomarker question is will biomarker testing determine the type of cancer in both the lung and uterus. The answer is I don't know but doubt it will. Biomarker testing reveals if your cancer will respond to a known targeted treatment or immunotherapy treatment. I'm not sure it reveals a type. Here is more information on a biopsy. Stay the course. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judy M2 Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 I had a CT scan first and then a bronchoscopy, where my pulmonologist extracted tissue for a biopsy and biomarker testing. I think I started having PET scans in January 2020 to determine how well treatments were working. I continue to have 3-month PET/CT scans. I believe the tissue biopsy determines the primary cancer site and whether there is PD/PDL-1 expression in the cells. Biomarker testing (by Guardant or Foundation, for example) looks for actionable gene mutations that can be treated with targeted therapy drugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dona Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 23 hours ago, Judy M2 said: I had a CT scan first and then a bronchoscopy, where my pulmonologist extracted tissue for a biopsy and biomarker testing. I think I started having PET scans in January 2020 to determine how well treatments were working. I continue to have 3-month PET/CT scans. I believe the tissue biopsy determines the primary cancer site and whether there is PD/PDL-1 expression in the cells. Biomarker testing (by Guardant or Foundation, for example) looks for actionable gene mutations that can be treated with targeted therapy drugs. Thank u for the info Judy. I'm reassured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dona Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 On 7/19/2021 at 10:38 AM, Tom Galli said: Dona, Actually, both a biopsy and PET scan should be done before a treatment course is designed. The biopsy diagnoses the type of lung cancer. If your biomarker question is will biomarker testing determine the type of cancer in both the lung and uterus. The answer is I don't know but doubt it will. Biomarker testing reveals if your cancer will respond to a known targeted treatment or immunotherapy treatment. I'm not sure it reveals a type. Here is more information on a biopsy. Stay the course. Tom Tom, thx for the info. I will pose the PET question to the radiologist performing the biopsy tomorrow. I appreciate your input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJM Posted July 23, 2021 Share Posted July 23, 2021 I rarely disagree with Tom G but....I would get as much info as I could via scans without a biopsy. If my team was concerned enough to want a biopsy then I would go for an open biopsy (my word). They look under a scope and if they dont like what they see they take the lobe and nodes. This assumes your nodule is a single one in a location that surgery can be done safely....which IS assuming alot. Other than that I agree 100% with the other Tom. Keep us posted. I can tell already you have the correct attitude. Now you need correct info. Peace Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.