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

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

Unknown: "hot spots" (increased uptake of a radioactive glucose analog) can be due to cancer, but also infection and inflammation. This needs further evaluation and possibly biopsy.

Why pet done?: There r a number of factors to consider when evaluating pet scan results as we don't use them for screening. If a patient has a history or new diagnosis of cancer then findings on a pet are more suspicious. Additionally, the suv, or brightness factor on a pet scan, is quantitative. Thus an suv over 10-15 is very suspicious as opposed to an suv under 4-5, which could b inflammation.Discuss withmd.