A 61-year-old female asked:
is there an alternative to pet for staging lung cancer?
2 doctor answers
Dr. Joseph Accurso answered
28 years experience Radiology
Several Options: Several tests can help stage lung cancer. A contrast enhanced (injected into a vein) CT is the usual first test. The advantage of a PET/CT (not just a PET) is the ability to look for disease in unexpected places (brain for example) or in areas which appear normal on CT, like small lymph nodes. PET shows areas which are using sugar for energy, as some cancers, including lung, do.
Answered on May 26, 2017
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Dr. Brian Wosnitzer answered
17 years experience Nuclear Medicine
Imaging studies...: PET is very helpful for initial staging as it can help stage disease and detect spread of disease to local lymph nodes or distant sites. The appropriate initial staging can help determine the best initial treatment. PET is useful because it measures metabolic activity rather than just anatomy and structure. Tumors tend to have increased metabolism on PET and may appear normal on CT alone.
Answered on Dec 10, 2016
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A member asked:
Dr. Sewa Legha answered
49 years experience Medical Oncology
No necessarily: Pneumonia is a fairly common initial menifestation of lung cancer as the tumor started from the inner lining of the bronchial tumes and can block the ... Read More
A 43-year-old member asked:
Dr. Lali Sekhon answered
31 years experience Neurosurgery
Depends: Cancers spread at different rates. Small cell cancer spreads quickly. Treatment also affects the rate of spread. If the pet scan is positive next step ... Read More
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A 42-year-old member asked:
Dr. Liawaty Ho answered
22 years experience Hematology and Oncology
Need evaluation: proceed with PET scan . ultimately you would need to have a biopsy of the lung mass to establish a diagnosis. if you smoke, please quit. God only know ... Read More
A 23-year-old member asked:
Dr. Ritesh Rathore answered
29 years experience Hematology and Oncology
No proven benefit: The big 3 are surgery, chemotherapy & radiation. Alternative options in trials include photodynamic therapy, cancer vaccines for example. Commonly use ... Read More
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