The PET Scan results came in!!! So what's the outcome!
The PET scan showed increased in tumor size and SUVmax. Oncologist was alarmed and recommended surgery to remove the tumors and the entire lymph node.
According to NGPDT team, tumor activities shown in CT/PET scan could also be indication of inflammation caused by microphage working on the debris of the dead tumor cells. PET scan does not differentiate between cancer malignant metabolism or inflammation of tumor caused by necrosis, apoptosis and the immune system working on these.
It's so close yet, we are not able to determine if the tumor is gone! Arrghh!
The next step for us is to schedule for a core biopsy of the tumor. We will schedule for that next week. This is the sure way to see of the tumor is dead or not. Invasive, but a necessary step to determine the impact of NGPDT. The silver lining is that there is NO spread of cancer to other parts of the body after 4 months.