Incidental findings and Incidentalomas – NET or NOT
During my diagnostics, I presented to my general practitioner as someone with symptoms of iron deficiency anaemia with some weight loss (not a lot but some). The GP at this point had no alternative but to refer me to secondary care where they had the tools to investigate further - e.g. imaging and endoscopies. The use of laboratory testing and imaging devices are there to not only back up the a doctor's clinical hypotheses but also to test them, i.e. these laboratory tests and imaging checks may lead to others. Differential checks are not misdiagnoses, they are part of the…
Understanding your Somatostatin Receptor (SSTR) PET/CT Scan Results
Background In my online patient group, there is constant discussion about the meaning of both pictures and words on scan reports. The one that seems to cause the most confusion is PET scans, mainly somatostatin receptor (SSTR) PETs such as Ga68 and Cu64 variants. Worth adding that it's the addition of a nuclear tracer that makes PETs seem different. Generally speaking, the PET hardware is essentially the same. Most have a built-in CT scan, much less frequently an MRI scan. Confusion is often triggered by healthcare system processes where the patient receives the report before the appointment to discuss the…
All you need to know about Somatostatin Receptor PET/CT Scans for Neuroendocrine Tumours
Cancer is a growth industry ...literally! More people are being diagnosed than ever before. Fortunately, more people are surviving than ever before. This is against a backdrop of better awareness, better screening in the big population cancers, and to a certain extent better diagnostic tools, all of which is leading to earlier diagnosis. So how does this affect Neuroendocrine Cancer? According to the latest SEER database figures for Neuroendocrine Cancer, one reason for the 7 fold increase in incidence rates since the 1970s is all of those things above including better diagnostics. This has led to a revised set of…