pet scan and uptakes?

Mikeswife

Mike had his pet scan Wed am, onc nurse called Thursday am, said their are 2 areas of uptakes, in in axil. lymph node, one in colon, so now he he has a sonagram, tomorrow and colonoscopy in a week and a half, I have never heard the term uptake, I have been trying to guess what this means? can any one explain it to me. 

ithaca

Dear Laura - before a PET scan, the patient is injected with radioactive sugar. Cancer cells tend to absorb more of this sugar solution than non-cancer cells. The scan highlights which cells uptake (or absorb) more of the solution. Uptake is suggestive of cancer and usually requires further investigation. But uptake also occurs for reasons other than cancer - there's uptake whenever there is increased metabolic activity. Thus, they do more tests to sort things out. The PET scan is used to tell them where to look more closely.

I hope this helps. Know that I am sending good thoughts to you and Mike.

Bob