PET UPTAKE 2 1/2 Months after Biopsy! Cancer or not?

Skiffin16 said:

Trust

Well first and foremost... If you can't trust your MD's, you need to find other ones.., after all your life is in their hands.

But that being said (we are not the ones to ask)..., but more than likely residual from your surgeries and treatment is a good possibility...

What does your ENT or MD say..., they are truely the ones with the medical expertise and knowledge.

 

Now if you don't like what they are telling you, a second opinion is never out of the question, even more opinions.

 

Best,

John

Hello,

My ENT suggested thinks I should wait on biopsy.  It's been 2 1/2 months since a very (SMALL) biopsy was taking in the

BOT area.  I have read after 8 weeks a PET is 90 % accurate and this PET was done 2 1/2 months after biopsy. 

I'm fearful and just don't know what to do because there is still no answers to my pain.  The CT scan showed no mass, but we

know that these scans are not very accurate in detecting smaller BOT cancers. 

Your thoughts?

longtermsurvivor said:

as John said

Uptake in that range, this soon after biopsy, is almost certainly caused by the biopsy itsself.  What the PET does is use glucose, labeled with radioactive substance, to identify areas that are at higher metabolic rates than normal.  Cancer has super high metabolism.  Healing areas, or areas of inflammation, less so.  So no  surprise a biopsy area is weakly positve.

 

Also as John said, this whole  thing is hard enough you don't have to be your own doctor.  You need simply to have doctors you trust. 

 

be well

 

Pat

Pat,

So even if there was just a small biopsy taken 2 1/2 months ago, it would cause an uptake of 4.1?  The other side

that I had my biopsy on didn't light up nor my tonsillectomy? 

fishmanpa said:

My Thoughts

Hi Wellington,

You've had several tests, CT scans a PET scan, a tonsillectomy done at the top cancer hospital in Alabama and several biopsies taken. Being that your surgery and biopsies were done at UAB, your surgeon would have collected samples from several areas including the BOT, and I'm sure your tonsils were examined/tested as well. You were diagnosed with Dysplasia. What your doctor said about the biopsy site being the reason the PET showed the hot area makes total sense. As you stated, he doesn't seem concerned. 

Dysplasia, while it is an abnormal area of cell growth, is not cancer. Typically, with this diagnosis, you'll be watched closely for any changes to those areas as a very small percentage of dysplasia cases do turn ugly. 

Based on the evidence thus far, your doctors have said you don't have cancer. I would venture to safely say that every person on this site, as well as the other oral cancer forum, would be jumping for joy if given your diagnosis! This is an excellent site for information and support. The folks here are amazing! However, one thing we're not, are diagnosticians. We can't tell you if what you have is cancer. You can ask about our symptoms till the cows come home but everyone is different and it won't get you any closer to the answers you seek. You've taken several steps in diagnosing your condition and thus far you've been told it's not cancer. If you're not satisfied with the answers you're receiving, the only alternative is to seek more opinions from the medical world.

Good luck, positive thoughts and prayers

"T"

"T"

Thank you so much for your response.  My ENT telephoned me back after closing hours and said he wanted

to go ahead with the biopsy after telling me he thought the uptake was from the previous small biopsy.  I know

there is no one on this site who can diagnose me, but I have actually learned more from these sites and went

into the doctors office with more knowledge and questions.  It is good to have people to talk about this issue. 

I'm clearly not out of the woods yet, but hopeful.   I have the symptoms, uptake, asymmetry at the base of my tongue. 

CT's clearly have not been useful or accurate in diagnosing this condition per my ENT.  I will have the biopsy in two weeks

and hopefully this ordeal will be over.   Thank you

Skiffin16 said:

Two Months...

Actually 2 1/2 months isn't that long after treatment, the odds of having resdiual show up is a lot greater than 4+ months. It's also not uncommon at all, many here have had residual show up on early scans only to have good scans a few months later..

John

I haven't been diagnosed or had treatment, just had a small biopsy.  I have not been diagnosed with cancer.