Pet scan vs. x ray

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lisjo
lisjo Member Posts: 12
edited July 2016 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

Hi all.
My pet scan came back with abou4-5 new bone mets areas. One was the upper femur and hip. My onc was concerned there was bone damage in those two areas so I had an x Ray with four views. The x Ray report said there were no lesions. But said "lesions may be radiographically occult." His nurse called and said there was no bony damage. So does this mean there is no cancer or there is but not destroying my bone. I start weekly taxol next week. There goes my hair again

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  • Kandy
    Kandy Member Posts: 1,461
    edited July 2016

    A pet scan is much more sensitive and accurate to pick up lesions. If your X-rays were okay, then the lesions have not caused a fracture yet. I'm hoping Taxol works great for you. Wishing you the best.

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  • dlb823
    dlb823 Member Posts: 9,430
    edited July 2016

    lisjo, I'm pretty sure she meant there's no obvious damage, such as a fracture, seen on the x-rays. But it doesn't change whatever was seen on your PET scan, which is much more accurate for imaging bone mets than x-rays are. If you have having any leg or hip pain, I would ask for an MRI to be absolutely certain you don't have hairline fractures, which might not not be seen if the lesions were radiographically occult (not found) on x-rays. But don't hesitate to call your onc's office on Tuesday and ask them to explain exactly what was seen on both the PET and the x-rays, so that you fully understand it.


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  • pajim
    pajim Member Posts: 2,785
    edited July 2016

    What they said. You have bone mets, but they aren't causing enough [any] damage that the x-ray sees it.

    Different imaging shows different things. You can also get different results from the same imaging depending on how the radiologist reads it.

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  • lisjo
    lisjo Member Posts: 12
    edited July 2016

    Thank you ladies. I had a few minutes of joy believing I had no mets there at all. But I get it now. I suppose I can still look at it as a little bit of good news. I have never had any pain from any bone met. I don't feel sick-this is so stressful as you all know. I do not respond any more to the estrogen blockers. so this is my first time with chemo in 18 years. I had taxol the first time around. This time I am getting it weekly. If this does not work, are there other chemos? Xeloda sounds awful.

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  • zarovka
    zarovka Member Posts: 3,607
    edited July 2016

    lisjo - really you are not in a bad place. there are a number of good treatments for bone mets. the experts can be found on the bone mets thread. The experts on Xeloda are on this thread. Get a second opinion if you are concerned about Xeloda. You may have alternatives. These threads are where you can begin to figure that out. Post your diagnosis and treatment history in your profile AND make it public so we have context for your questions.

    >Z<

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