can someone help me with this? & how accurate is a PET Scan?

Posted by sunshyne23 @sunshyne23, Jun 29 11:39pm

HISTORY: Initial staging mucoepidermoid carcinoma

TECHNIQUE: The patient received intravenous injection of 13.38 mCi
F18-FDG and skull base to midthigh imaging was performed. Images were
reconstructed with iterative reconstruction. A skull base to midthigh
non-contrast CT scan was performed and used for attenuation correction.
Blood glucose level was 81 mg/dl.

Incubation time: 45 mins

COMPARISON: 5/29/2025 MRI

FINDINGS:

Mediastinal blood pool activity: SUV Max 1.7

Liver background activity: SUV Max 1.9

There is prominent soft tissue in the right hard palate and
pterygopalantine fossa demonstrating mild hypermetabolic activity up to
an SUV max of 5.3. There is some soft tissue extension into the right
maxillary sinus. The mass is difficult to measure on the low-dose CT and
better measured on the diagnostic MRI and CT neck although approximately
5.8 x 3.4 cm with an SUV max of 5.3.

There is no avid adenopathy.

There is no lung nodule. There is no adenopathy in the chest.

There is no uptake above background in the liver. There is no adrenal
nodule. There is no abdominal or pelvic adenopathy.

There is no avid disease in the lower extremities.

IMPRESSION:
1. Hypermetabolic mass in the right hard palate and right
pterygopalatine fossa. No distant avid metastatic disease.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Head & Neck Cancer Support Group.

William Olsen, Volunteer Mentor | @hrhwilliam | Jun 30 8:07am

Hello and welcome to our Connect group for Head and Neck Cancer. This is a patient to patient forum and although some patients might be medically qualified to interpret PET scan results, they likely would not give out medical opinions.
That said, as a patient, I could tell you what you already know. It appears you have something going on there yet it hasn’t spread. What we have experienced with PET scans is with follow up scans, they tend to show scar tissue as similar cancer clusters. Follow up with either a needle biopsy or additional scans will give us a better understanding of what the mass actually is.
PET scans are a valuable diagnostic tool but they are not definitive. In other words a spot that looks like cancer might actually be old scar tissue, perhaps an area which was cancer which died out of its own accord, which does happen occasionally.
Let your team determine what is going on with you. A second opinion when it comes to a cancer diagnosis is not unusual. Get the best care you can find and keep in mind this is your health, life and death, so do what is best for you.
Where are you on this journey? What brought about the PET scan in the first place? Courage.

56tburd | @56tburd | Jul 1 8:53am

Weeks after radiation and chemo for stage IV squamous cell carcinoma at the base of my tongue, a PET scan showed signs of cancer remaining in the lymph nodes on one side of my neck. Surgery was recommended and performed three months following the end of the other procedures. It was found there was no remaining cancer in the lymph nodes. I couldn't say if the radiation continued to do its job and that was why they found no cancer, or was the PET scan result an error or misinterpretation. Good luck!

kmlnj | @kmlnj | Jul 2 5:45pm

I think we need multiple scans about 3 to 4 months apart. What they look for is changes.
My scan post thyroidectomy and neck dissection showed a small cancer on my cricoid. The surgeon knew it was there and said operation would have been "very messy", and I would have lost my voice.
Post 35 radiation and boost chemotherapy my Pet scan and CT scan show no cancer and the cricoid tumor smaller.
We are very happy....and yet I am scheduled for another CT scan in September.
They need to see change vs no. Change.

jenatsky | @jenatsky | Jul 9 3:25pm

You have suspicious results in your neck that need to be watched. They might biopsy it next to truly find out what the hypermetabolic area is. As another reader pointed out serial scans are also useful too.

longboat1 | @longboat1 | Jul 11 12:19pm

In reply to @56tburd "Weeks after radiation and chemo for stage IV squamous cell carcinoma at the base of my..." + (show)

I had tonsil cancer with radiation/chemo. Before and two months after treatment I had NavDx blood tests that is specific for hpv tonsil cancer and petscans. Both were negative. During the follow-up appt with my ENT, he felt a swollen lymph node in my neck. He wanted to schedule surgery to remove 5 or 6 nodes in my neck. This is a very invasive operation that can affect nerves, muscles, arteries etc in that area. I requested a biopsy of the swollen node and it came back negative. Dr said since it was a needle biopsy and they could have missed cancer and urged me to have the operation. I was scheduled for another followup petscan and blood test and elected to wait another 6 weeks for the results. Both came back negative and I changed to another ENT.

Please sign in or register to post a reply.