Question 1

should a pet scan show any cancer?

Accepted Answer

Metabolism: A pet scan is a measure of brain areas metabolism.  Brain tumors have a unique metabolic picture and alter the normal metabolic pattern of the affective area.

Question 2

my dr gave script for a bone scan. admin assistant put in pet scan to insurance. long story. getting nowhere. will a pet scan show bone cancer the way a bone scan will? not even sure if it will be authorized bc of mistake. waiting since 12/7. in pain?

Accepted Answer

Bone scan vs pet sca: I would just go ahead with the bone scan as I don't believe authorization by the insurance company will be required.   Judging from my experience with insurance companies, my guess is that the Pet Scan won't be authorized if the only indication listed for the reason for it is "pain".

Question 3

what would a pet scan show that a ct scan may not for a person with pancreatic cancer?

Accepted Answer

PET in cancer: PET scans are used to detect areas of abnormally increased metabolism, while CT scans only detect areas of differing density or lucency to radiation. So an abnormality like an area of scarred old tumor might look abnormal on CT scan but not have increased metabolism indicating active cancer on PET scan. False positives still occur with both, but they tend to commplement each other.

Question 4

my dad is 53 years old and in good shape. he was diagnosed with stage 4 secondary liver cancer; the primary is still unknown. he has had a ct scan, an endoscopy, and a colonoscopy done. will a pet scan show something more?

Accepted Answer

Possibly: More important is the pathology.  We rely on pathology and the immunochemistry.  The pet may be helpful but sometimes we do not find a primary.  This is called a cancer of unknown primary.

Question 5

what does a cancer free pet scan show? when a pet scan shows that a person is cancer free, does that really mean they're done with cancer? is it cured? are there any general statistics for a person who had cancer, but a pet scan later showed that the canc

Accepted Answer

PET : Pet scans are used for diagnosis, staging, and restaging of certain kinds of cancers such as lung, colorectal, esophageal, and head and neck cancers, and for monitoring response to therapy in breast cancer. Different kinds of cancers behave differently, and there is no guarantee that a given cancer is completely "cured, " even following complete remission. In general, evidence of a complete remission on a pet scan is a very favorable prognostic sign, and indicates that treatment was successful. Followup pet scans are still performed at regular intervals, often for the patient's lifetime, in order to monitor for any possible recurrence that might require new treatment. In general, if follow-up pet scans continue to show no evidence of disease over a period of many years, the likelihood of recurrence is low.

Question 6

do pet scans show lung cancer?

Accepted Answer

Adjunctive: Pet scans utilize a special sugar molecule or glucose, and attaches a harmless piece of radioactivity to it (fdg).  The FDG is taken up by metabolically active tissue, and glows on imaging.  Often tumors or lung cancers are metabolically active.  A pet scan can be fused with a ct scan, and if a suspicious lung mass on ct scan is metabolically active by pet, it may indicate it is a lung cancer.

Question 7

pet scan show hot spots in lymph nodes. is this definately cancer?

Accepted Answer

Maybe: Pet activity correlates with sugar utilization, and increases can be seen in malignancies, but also other inflammatory and infectious conditions.

Question 8

are small liver nodules less than 1cm cancer, didn't show on pet scan?

Accepted Answer

Liver nodules: Multiple small nodules in the liver can be due to a multiplicity of causes, ranging from benign cysts, vascular lesions, infectious foci, or tumors. The fact that they were negative on pet scanning is reassuring, but i would definitely follow up with a hepatologist to find the definitive cause.

Question 9

incidental finding of rt hiler mass,pet scan showed suspicious for malignancy. bronchoscope shows no cancer wednesday.tissue samples taken.now what?

Accepted Answer

It depends: If the bronchoscopic biopsy showed a specific benign process that could account for the PET finding, you have an answer.  If not, you might need to have another biopsy by a different method.

Question 10

what does a pet scan for leukemia show? since leukemia is in the blood, does it show cancer cells spread all over your body or does it show the cells concentrated in certain areas?

Accepted Answer

While : While pet imaging is commonly used for staging and restaging of lymphoma, pet imaging is not in widespread clinical use in the diagnosis or staging of leukemia. This is partly due to the diffuse nature of leukemia compared to the more focal findings characteristic of lymphoma. However, there are likely many ongoing research studies looking at pet imaging in leukemia, and patients with leukemia may choose to be enrolled in such a study if available. This could potentially benefit patients with leukemia in the future. There is some evidence, in at least one published report of two cases, that pet scans show diffusely increased uptake in the bone marrow of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (cml). Follow-up pet scans after treatment showed reduced bone marrow uptake in these two patients.

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Doctor answers about:

Does a pet scan show all cancers

A member asked:

Should a pet scan show any cancer?

A member asked:

My dr gave script for a bone scan. admin assistant put in pet scan to insurance. long story. getting nowhere. will a pet scan show bone cancer the way a bone scan will? not even sure if it will be authorized bc of mistake. waiting since 12/7. in pain?

A member asked:

What would a pet scan show that a ct scan may not for a person with pancreatic cancer?

A member asked:

My dad is 53 years old and in good shape. he was diagnosed with stage 4 secondary liver cancer; the primary is still unknown. he has had a ct scan, an endoscopy, and a colonoscopy done. will a pet scan show something more?

A member asked:

What does a cancer free pet scan show? when a pet scan shows that a person is cancer free, does that really mean they're done with cancer? is it cured? are there any general statistics for a person who had cancer, but a pet scan later showed that the canc

A member asked:

Do pet scans show lung cancer?

A member asked:

Pet scan show hot spots in lymph nodes. is this definately cancer?

A member asked:

Are small liver nodules less than 1cm cancer, didn't show on pet scan?

A member asked:

Incidental finding of rt hiler mass,pet scan showed suspicious for malignancy. bronchoscope shows no cancer wednesday.tissue samples taken.now what?

A member asked:

What does a pet scan for leukemia show? since leukemia is in the blood, does it show cancer cells spread all over your body or does it show the cells concentrated in certain areas?

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