scared to death about pet scan

Michele6467

Had a mammogram done came back fine ultra sound of breast also fine but ultrasound of right airpit showed 2 nodes black. Had them biopsied came back positive for cancer. had a mri and pet scan done 5 days ago and 10 nodes in the axillary area lite up but no sign of tumor. 8 of them are in a cluster and doc thinks that is where the tumor might be wants to try to remove all ten and biopsy. Could they lite up and be negative? So scared I cant think straight.

art15

My wife had a PET/CT and some spots lit up in her armpit 11 months ago, Kaiser did not say she had to come in for follow up. Please follow up on this. She had 3-4 nodes positive in the PET but no take-up (glucose takeup for possible metabolic activity) elsewhere in her breast. We now know there was a tumor there. It showed up 10 months later, she has dense breast tissue, and some cancers don't (lobular) takeup the glucose in a PET scan. We hope you resolve this, my wife and I told the doctors, there can't be lymph nodes involved without it coming from somewhere, it sounds like you caught this as early as possible, there is a reliable indicator--lymph nodes lacking fatty lipium, which is another cancer sign, my wife's PET showed at least 2 nodes enlarged to 1cm "without fatty lipium" in the pathology report, it's pretty conclusive a carcinoma, I'm sure you are in good hands and can locate the primary source with your doctor team, we wish you the best and others here can help too. If you have a virus or infection, lymph nodes can be swollen, usually it only lasts 2 weeks, but they are saying the biopsies showed carcinoma, but needle biopsies of lymph nodes can be wrong, maybe others here would agree a second opinion might be in order before a lymph node(s) removal.

Usually the surgeon locates the sentinel lymph node (SNB)using nuclear tracking, removes & and they test it for cancer during surgery before removing the others, perhaps you ask.

ElaineTherese

Michele6467,

Before treatment, I had an ultrasound, an MRI, and a PET scan. They all showed one node was compromised. When the radiologist did a fine needle biopsy, that node did test positive for cancer. If multiple scans are saying the same thing, and two tested positive for cancer, then there is (unfortunately) a good chance that all 10 will have to be removed. Best wishes to you; many ladies here tested positive for multiple nodes and they've lived to tell the tale.