What is a rib lesion?

Did you see this written on an imaging report after having a scan?

A lesion is a spot that "lights up" on an imaging scan (x-ray/CT/bone scan/PET/MRI) that shows a spot of increased activity which could signal cancer, but could also be completely benign. For example, I had a liver lesion reported on a CT that turned out to be a benign growth. I also had a lesion on my spine that one scan picked up, but another scan reported was benign. So if you had a scan and the report says rib lesion, you would need an additional test or biopsy to find out what exactly it is. It's sort of like a generic term to indicate there's something there that usually isn't there, and we have to explore more deeply.

From what I understand, PET scans are very sensitive and often produce false positives, so generally a lesion noted on a PET scan would be confirmed with another scan. In the case of a lesion on a rib, my guess is that a bone scan would be next. If that also shows a concern, a biopsy may be necessary.

I've done lots of reading on these scans (I'm just a lay person, so take my opinion for what it's worth), and I've noticed that each scan has its advantages and disadvantages. Usually when a lesion appears in one scan, another one is performed to confirm or deny metastases.

I wish you very good luck. Keep us posted!

I had taxol and carboplatin and it was supposed to be much milder than AC. However, I had trouble with my platelet count and ended up missing 2 chemos two times (so 4 total) due to that and they had to discontinue the Carboplatin. I had no nausea, no side effects with it. But everyone is different so that doesn't necessarily surprise me