Questions about bone scan???

Junebug1972 · June 2019

Hello all,

I haven’t been on here in a long while and posted but of course I look around and read a lot. I am having a lot of pain in my right femur up to my hip and down into my butt bone. I had a bone scan yesterday and while I was being scanned the tech came in and asked me about my pain again. She asked if I was ok and of course it hurt to lay there. There was also a screen on an arm that was facing the other way and I asked if I could see it and she said yes ad pointed it down to where I could see it. It had two windows on it. One was called detector 1 and the other was dectector 2. When I asked her what they were doing she said they were making the pictures. Detector 1 from up above me and detector 2 from below. The pictures jumped around a lot but you could clearly see my skeleton. There was a lot of uptake in my right hip. So of course I am now paranoid. I understand not to make a big deal about it until the radiologist reads it because bone scans can pick up many different things. But of course we all know how the waiting room sucks.

So with all that, does anyone have any experience with bone scans and bone mets to the femur and hip area? If so, what were your symptoms and how did your bone scan go if you had one?

Thank you for all you insights,

Junebug1972

Spoonie77 · June 2019

Hi June - I don't have exp with METs, but I do have some exp with Bone Scans. My most recent bone scan showed increased uptake in my rib and in my jaw. In fact, the tech came in and asked mid scan if I'd had any recent injuries and I told him nope. It was the truth. Later learned why he'd come in, as he'd discovered a broken rib. My results showed a healing fractured lower rib. Had no idea I had even fractured one, must have happened after RADs. Also, the issue in my jaw was later determined to arthritis related.

So, while I can completely relate to feeling panicky seeing uptake on your images, it is true that areas of uptake can mean many other things, arthritis included. I sure hope you get good news that your scan is clear. Keep us posted. Try to keep distracted as best you can in the meantime. No easy task, I know.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/bone-s...

"If you have unexplained bone pain, a bone scan might help determine the cause. The test is very sensitive to any difference in bone metabolism. The ability to scan the entire skeleton makes a bone scan very helpful in diagnosing a wide range of bone disorders, including:

Fractures
Arthritis
Paget's disease of bone
Cancer originating in bone
Cancer that has metastasized to bone from a different site
Infection of the joints, joint replacements or bones (osteomyelitis)
Impaired blood supply to bones or death of bone tissue (avascular necrosis)"

goldie0827 · June 2019

I have bone mets, and never have and still don't have any pain. My TM's kept going up, so we scanned, and then biopsy on hip bone to confirm. I guess the good way to look at it, is if you don't have organ involvement, that is good in itself.

Spoonie, I have it in my jaw too! Hips, groin, spine, ribs and skull.

Spoonie77 · June 2019

Goldie, thank you for sharing your experience. cCn I ask which tumor markers your MO monitors? I know every dr seems to follow such a different position on them, so I"m curious which ones yours chooses to monitor. It's kind of scary to know that METs can be accompanied without pain. No one had told me that. All of the medical providers I've seen have all insisted I would feel it. Guess that isn't true after all. Again, another reason to be thankful for a MO who is willing to track markers. Thanks again for sharing your experience, learned something important today because of you.

goldie0827 · June 2019

I insisted my MO check my markers. We test for CEA, which he doesn't really rely on that one. The others he really looks at are CA 15-3 and CA 27.29

I've been stage IV for 5 years now and still no pain, now that could be due to oral chemo I have been on for 4 years, no way to know. Perhaps pain would have eventually come, had I not insisted on markers.

I always say, this is YOUR body, the doctors work YOU, not the other way around.

Anonymous · June 2019

yes, not to frighten you further, but I am another lady with mets who has not had pain. My mets were found because a suspicious lung spot on a breast mri led to me getting a PET scan and then a bone biopsy to confirm what was seen on the scan.

Tumor marker tests are also pretty useless in my own case since they've been in a normal range since before I received any treatment. My doc uses CEA and CA 15-3

I have not had a bone scan only PET and MRI. But things canshow up on any type of scan,that are not cancer....like the lung nodule on my MRI

exbrnxgrl · June 2019

Eight years out from dx of a single met to upper femur. I never had any pain and it was an accidental finding on an unrelated PET scan. I had a bone scan recently, which turned up nothing, thankfully. Although I like to be aware of imaging, I don’t look at them until after the radiologist report is out (I am very lucky and have my reports available in less than 24 hours) because it would make me a little crazy .

Junebug1972 · June 2019

Crap. I wrote a whole response and then when I tried to post it it was timed out and deleted my post. Ugh! But anyway I wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and knowledge. I’m not seeing my onc until July 5th, so I will call her office next week and try to get the results. I will keep you guys posted. Thanks again.

goldie0827 · June 2019

Good Luck Junebug and praying it's nothing! Sometimes if you right click, it will show "undo", you can click that, it might take a couple of tries, but it will put things back.

Junebug1972 · June 2019

Thank you so much! I will keep you posted with what happens. I also wanted to say that my onc does follow tumor markers too. So I will see what those say as well soon. I let everyone know what I find out! Thanks for responding

Junebug1972 · June 2019

So I called my oncologist’s office and they wouldn’t give me results over the phone. Which is strange because they have always done that. My doctor has a new medical assistant so that might be why. Anyway, I just called the imaging company and they emailed me my report. I think for the most point it is good news. It says Focal right knee activity at the proximal medial tibia is present. This is not a typical pattern for degenerative change but it does not represent a change compared to prior bone scan. There is increasing activity at the anterior left knee, most likely patellofemoral arthropathy. They recommended plain xrays of both knees. I see my onc next Tuesday and I’m sure she will order them then. I will let you guys know how it goes

goldie0827 · June 2019

Sounds pretty good to me, no mention of the hip. But perhaps knee replacement in the future? Which I'd take over anymore cancer anywhere. Good luck.

Questions about bone scan???

Comments

Categories