Dear Joy,

PET scan shows the metabolic activity with uptake of radio-labeled
glucose, so if the PET scan is negative, that is a very good sign that
the findings on the radionuclide bone scan are probably not
metabolically active tumor.  One way to find out is to Xray a few of
the suspicious areas noted on the bone scan.  Bone scans are
notoriously nonspecific, as areas of osteoarthritis or benign
compression fractures will show increased activity which is difficult
to separate from bone involvement by cancer.  If the Xrays are not
particularly helpful, then a CAT scan of the area will almost always
resolve the issue.

Regarding prevention of breast cancer, please see my article:

http://jeffreydach.com/2007/05/05/jeffreydachdrdachiodine.aspx

regards from jeffrey dach

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md

Sickness, pneumonia and sciatica doesn't for me jell with "moderate
concern" on a bone scan and a clean PET.  I'd guess it's not cancer.

Seem to me if she had bone-mets related sciatica her spine would light
up like a Christmas tree.  Negatives on the bone scan are good.  False
positives are common as it lights up for any sort of inflammatory
process, but false negatives are relatively rare.

I don't really know about the implications of eating or alcohol on PET,
but I don't really see any mechanism for a false negative there either.
 Again PET is notoriously sensitive and prone to false positives.

Doesn't mean there aren't mets there, but it doesn't sound to me like
the symptoms are related to any spread of cancer, so there is no
particular evidence that there is any metastasis at all.

Sounds to me like she should maybe be seeing an orthopod not an
oncologist.  Doctors tend not to diagnose mets until everything else has
been ruled out, so the book procedure is to approach her problems as a
new condition.  Take it to her GP and get a diagnosis or reference to
specialists as necessary, disregarding the history of cancer.

Tim Jackson