DLBCL - pet scan post treatment showing activity

Anc102989

Hi there,

I have never posted on here until now. My fiancé finished 6 rounds of dose adjusted repoch in early April. He had a Pet scan done 6 weeks after his last treatment that showed a 6cm mass with an active spot. We have a biopsy on Monday. has anyone had an experience like this where it was a fluke and not cancer that still needs to be treated? The doctor said that he can't lean either way and we are both down. We were so expecting a clear scan. 

 

thanks,

amanda

Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3

Possibilities

A few things can skew a PET scan, Amanda.  Surgical incisions as they heal will show positive, due to rapid tissue growth. So too will a traumatized area, such as if tissue has been torn from an injury, for the same reason.

Lacking either of those, since he has recently had known aggressive NHL, it seems likely that he had a little spot left over, but as you yourself know, only a biopsy can confirm this.  Probably half or more of the writers here have required salvage therapies (also called "second-line" therapies), of which there are many, even short of SCT.   No doubt many will share their insights here soon.

Hoping for the best,

max

yesyes2

Inflamation

I have had increaded sugar uptake on PET scans due to sever inflamation.  My stomach and tail bone at different times showed activity.  Both were biopsyed with path saying severely inflamed normal tissue.  My GI Doctor took so many samples my stomach bled for weeks.  Both on MRI's and CT's my tailbone still always lights up.  This has been the case for the last nine years.  

When do you get his biopsy results back  Hoping for the very best.  Please let us know.

Leslie

 

Jeff148

I had a similar experience

Before I was first diagnosed, they took out two nodes out of the many that lit up in my stomach region. After chemo, there were two spots that lit up as active. After doing research, I asked my dr if it could be scar tissue from the two spots they took samples from. He said highly unlikely. I then went through another surgery to biopsy the two spots. It turned out to be scar tissue. Better safe than sorry.

Anc102989

Thank you all for your

Thank you all for your responses. We have the biopsy on Monday and have a follow up on Friday to hear the results. Will keep this post updated. 

Cscott

PET scan

I finished 12 rounds of chemo in August. Had my scan Tuesday. No one told me not to eat before, or not to eat sugar for 24 hours. Scan was  done at 8AM, I was up at 5, eating Halloween candy. Anyway, scan came back clear. The problem is I have swollen lymph nodes everywhere!! In my neck, under my arm and running down my arms. The ones on the inside of my elbow have almost doubled in size in a week. The test is $9,000 And I'm on charity. As I'm a single mom and a hair stylist. Any suggestions on what I should do?!? I know for an absolute fact my cancer isn't gone. My doc actually said it was all in my head! But never examined me to feel nodes, never ever! 6 months of seeing him and he's never examined me. My sister goes with me to every appointment. She's been in the medical field for years and did an "examination" on me the day before the scan. She confirmed every node i felt, is there and swollen. Supposed to go back in 3 moths for another followup. Should I just bide my time?!? 

LacieAnn728

Having the same fears!

my name is Lacie I just finished 6 rounds of ABVD September 12, for classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I had clear results within two cycles and I had a follow up ct which showed slight increase in the lymph nodes in my chest, so I went for a pet scan and it lite up with border line activity and now I need a biopsy again. This feeling is awful after feeling accomplished in battling chemo to feel back at square one it’s hard to be positiv. I hope I’m ok and best wishes to you and hoping everything turns out good for everyone!