Pet scan

Larry68

Finished up 37 rounds of radiation, and 7 rounds of chemo, for head a d  neck cancer.last treatment was in January for squamous cell carcinoma.  Diagonished positive in left limp node on neck, and pet scan kit lite up in 2 spots in throat.  Tonsil area, and base of tongue. Biopsy of throat area was negative. Now 3 months later, got a big lump on chin, voice hoarse, no taste buds , and pet scan read limp node dissolved , but still lite up in throat are, saying it reduced in size. I was hoping for all gone, anybody else have results like ths

armana

My experience

My 1st pet scan post treatment showed some activity on the cancerous lymph node. The radiologist recommended a follow up in 6 months however, the oncologist said probably a sacr tissue.

Lucky for me, the oncologist was correct and the follow up pet scan was all clear. That was 4 1/2 years ago. 

johnsonbl

Not uncommon for the PET...

To show activity for a couple months after...even healing will show up on PET as you will have higher uptake than normal in an area that is healing.  Many physicians won't even do a PET at 2 months because of this...  Many will opt for a 6 month only so that the PET is clearer because much of the healing is done by then.  So I wouldn't worry to much at this point.

No thoughts on the lump on your chin.  Never heard of that...

ERomanO

I dont think I ever read this

I dont think I ever read this before on here, but my RO told me that some cancer cells after radiation can remain alive but the multiplier switch gets turned off and they can no longer reproduce.  So they are in effect dead, but still show up on a scan.  In time those HPV+ cells will be wisked away into the lymph system and gone for good.

hlrowe

My first PET showed a LOT of

My first PET showed a LOT of uptake values and my medical onc said the rad onc did it way too early. I think I was 8 weeks post TX. A subsequent scan showed no uptake values.

 

Larry68

armana said:

My experience

My 1st pet scan post treatment showed some activity on the cancerous lymph node. The radiologist recommended a follow up in 6 months however, the oncologist said probably a sacr tissue.

Lucky for me, the oncologist was correct and the follow up pet scan was all clear. That was 4 1/2 years ago. 

Thanks, going for my 2nd one

Thanks, going for my 2nd one in 3 weeks, hope it’s clear, and the lump on my chin my radiology dr said was Moro, he called in 

Larry68

Pet scan

Thanks for your answer, goi for my 2nd pet scan in 3 weeks, hope it’s clear