PET scan results

Hi ,

The start of your journey is very similar to my own, if you click on my username it’ll take you to my profile & you’ll be able to read a bit about my story there. The clear margin on a small portion of my tumour was down to 1mm & my surgeon referred me to oncology where I entered into a clinical trial (PLATO) which offered me a slightly shorter, 23 opposed to 28 sessions of marginally lower dose radiotherapy, along with oral chemotherapy. I’m now 2.5 yrs post treatment & NED so far. 

I must admit I don’t know much about SUV values, I only know that the lower the value the more likely that findings will be benign & the higher the value the higher the chance of malignancy, having said this I’ve no idea the grade of the scale used so where your score of 3.8 sits I couldn’t say. Would it be possible for you to give your oncologist a call for some clarification on this or maybe your specialist nurse if you have one? We all know what the waiting  around can be like! Waiting on scan/biopsy results is just awful but you sound as though you have the right mindset, just take it one day at a time. 

All the very best of luck for the biopsy in 2 weeks, hopefully it’ll be nothing to worry about. Please just let us know if there’s anything else we can do to support you through this. 

Nicola

Hi as I understand it, PET scans work by detecting the amount of glucose used in different parts of the body by the injection of a very small amount of a radiotracer substance, containing radioactive sugar into the patient.  This will highlight the rate of consumption of glucose in different parts of the body. Malignant cells have a higher metabolic rate than normal cells do and will therefore use more glucose.   However, the way to interpret the results will be affected by (1) a patient's weight and (2) the amount of the injected radiotracer substance.  To take into account these two variables, a calculation is performed called the standardized uptake value (SUV) . A reading is then produced, in your case SUV 3.8. However, I understand that this reading is not always accurate as, for example, benign inflammatory conditions may show a high glucose consumption rate which will then produce a high SUV value.  This is why, I would imagine, the doctors want to perform a biopsy before they can make an accurate diagnosis. I am not aware of what your particular SUV level indicates, as Nikki65 has said your Oncologist would be the best person to ask. I do think it would have been helpful if your doctor could have explained what the SUV indicates in your case, there seems little point in telling someone what the SUV level is without putting it into context. All the best for the biopsy, please let us know if you have any other questions.  Bev.