On 5/23/2009 Cofield wrote:
My husband is 56 years old and has been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. He has not drank alcohol in over three years. His doctor orders an ultrasound of my husband's abdomen every six month. Several weeks ago the ultrasound was completed and the doctor ordered a ct scan. The nurse called to let me husband know he has 1/2 inch mass in the upper right lobe of his liver and the doctor wants him to have a pet scan. Why would the doctor order a pet scan before conducting a biopsy? Does he already "know" the mass is malignant? We are very worried and the insurance company has now approved the pet scan as of today.
By ordering the PET scan your doctor is trying to find out if there is any hypermetabolic activity in the mass which would indicate cancer. If there is, then he would request the biopsy to determine what type, stage the cancer is. The mass could be something besides cancer so I don't think I would worry until I knew that for sure.
Good luck and God Bless