I am so sick of all of this. My poor daddy. I hate that so many people are dealing with cancer. I freaking hate cancer. I decided to do something i should NOT have done. my dad had his what was supposed to be stage 1 tumor removed and kept having pain and so they did another pet only to find out he had NUMEROUS other spots that showed up just TWO months after his lung surgery to remove his lobe with the ONE tumor. So of course he is now a stage 4. (his oncologist does not use stages for recurrence,, just calls them recurrence ) anyway,, today i looked at the two pet scans he had on disk. The first one in the results section says there is a tumor and gives the suv of i think 7. Then the second scan just two months later tells of all the spots and says the largest one has an SUV of 33! WHAT!!! Is that freakin possible?? I have NEVER seen one that high in all the time i have heard anyone talk about SUV. The doctors NEVER tell us the SUV numbers, i just saw it on the scan.. Here is what it says............
Diagnostic Report:
Diagnosis:
POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY
IMPRESSION:
There is hypermetabolism in new foci involving the chest wall posteriorly
wall and within the left lower lobe laterally. There is not definite spread
to the mediastinum. There is not evidence for spread below the
hemidiaphragms.
Of incidental note is the presence of sigmoid diverticulosis and aneurysmal
dilatation of the abdominal aorta.
BURCH, Dennis
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PET-CT scan examination 13 August 2008.
Indication: Non-small cell cancer of the lung, restaging.
Additional History/Information: There is a comparison study 3 April 2008.
The patient was diagnosed March 2008 and has undergone left upper lobectomy.
FINDINGS:
Patient height 5 foot 9 inches, weight 213 pounds, blood glucose 98 dc/mL.
16 mCi of fluorine 18 labeled deoxyglucose were given intravenously, and
following 1 hour of quiescence, standard transmission/emission imaging was
pursued using CT attenuation correction at 7 overlapping stations using
standard filtering. In addition to archival images, computed
projection/volume images were assessed.
PET Findings
There is normal cardiac, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and
reticuloendothelial activity. There is, unfortunately, hypermetabolism
believed indicative of recurrent disease the dominant mass involving the
posterior chest wall at the level of the main pulmonary branch, dimensions
estimated 6.8 x 3.5 transaxial x 5.0 craniocaudad centimeter and reaching
33.8 SUV. Satellite nodularity is present most notable in tear laterally.
At the left anterior chest wall at that level there is a 2.2 cm
hypermetabolism reaching 13.4 SUV adjacent to the pericardium. There is
posterior inferior pleural hypermetabolism reaching 17.6 SUV over 2 .8 cm
more inferiorly. Laterally in the left lower lobe peripherally there is a
10.3 SUV 1.8 cm nodule not seen previously.
Bilaterally there is increased activity at the submandibular gland which is
believed on the basis of swallowing/muscular activity or inflammatory
process. This would be an unlikely place for metastatic spread of disease.
CT Findings
Include mild left pleural fluid. There are diverticula within the sigmoid
colon without associated inflammation. There is a 4.5 cm aneurysm of the
infrarenal abdominal aorta.
OMGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!! This means his cancer is even more aggressive then i thought. SUV OF 33!!!! Thats crazy...... has anyone ever seen this??????????????
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