CT scan results of liver mets

Honeybee68

I am on week 14 of weekly Taxol, and every three week Herceptin and Perjeta. I had a 3 month CT scan last week. I had two liver mets before starting treatment. The CT shows that nothing new has grown and the liver mets have shrunk. I had a 24 mm liver mass prior that is now 11 mm. The other liver met was 25 mm prior and is now 9 mm.

But, the radiology report also says the first liver mass "appears necrotic today". It also says: "No definite viable tumor persists."

I am confused. Doesn't "necrotic" and no definite "viable" tumor mean the radiologist thinks the tumors are no longer living? Can a CT scan show that? I didn't get much time with my oncologist to go over it and we discussed other things. Just curious if anyone else has seen such language and if they now what it means.

JFL

Typically, a CT wouldn't show whether a tumor is active or not and one would need a PET for that. However, necrotic tissue actually looks different on the CT scan. My DH explained this to me once. He is a surgeon and looks at a lot of CT scans. Sounds like a great report! Congrats!

pajim

Congratulations on the report!

I agree with JFL. What the radiologists are saying, in a CYA kind of way is "we think the tumor is dead/gone, but since CTs don't show if it's active material we can't really say for sure and we don't want to get sued".