Cancer Detection
What are the cancer warning signs?
Almost all cancers will cause a few similar findings and one of them is weight loss. Most tumors release enzymes and hormones which cause you to degrade or to lose protien and therefore, you'll find that many folks, the first sign is they will have weight loss when they are not trying to lose weight. So they're eating very well but they're still losing weight. So, that's a very big sign. There's some other types of cancers that will cause some things that look a lot like the flu; Fevers, night sweats, the chills, vomiting, nausea. All these signs and symptoms can be signs of a cancer. Changes in your appetite are definate signals that there is something probably that needs to be checked out. Especially if you normally have a pretty good appetite. A lot of people will lose energy. They feel very lethargic. They're sleeping a little bit more than normal. They just don't want to engage in the same activities they used to. All these things can also be attributed to depression. They can be attributed to a bad day at the office and because of these reasons a lot of people will not check these things out. But I would say that it's probably fair that if you have had any of those signs or symptoms and they have lasted more than 4 weeks, you should probably get seen by a physician.
What is a 'biopsy'?
A biopsy is a minor surgical procedure in which a sample or a portion of a tumor is removed from the patient and sent to the laboratory for evaluation in order to make a diagnosis, to give that growth a name. What exactly is this? That's what the purpose of a biopsy is. And it can be done several ways. You can do a biopsy with a needle. You can do a biopsy with a scalpel. There are also image-guided biopsies. So there are a multitude of ways. But at the end of the day, what you are doing is removing a small piece of tissue.
What is a 'needle biopsy'?
A needle biopsy is a very minimally invasive procedure in which the doctor will take a small caliber needle meaning, this is a very small needle, for all you folks who are concerned, and place that into a growth or a tumor through the skin and aspirate cells from the tumor. And take this to a microscope and try to make a diagnosis. This is what a needle biopsy is used for.
What scanning techniques are used to detect cancer?
There are a multitude of them. The most common ones are known as CT scans, or CAT scans. The formal name is Computer Tomography. There are MRI scans, which are also known as Magnetic Resonance Imaging. There are ultrasounds, and there are PET scans, known as Positron Emission Tomography. Each one has a different advantage, a different disadvantage. Based upon what you're looking for or what you're trying to delineate, determines which one you would use.
What is a 'PET' Scan?
PET scan is just a short way of describing a long name called "Positron Emission Tomography." And this is probably one of the newer scans we have available. It's a functional scan, and the difference between a functional and a static scan is pretty similar to the difference between a polaroid and a video camera. A PET scan tries not to decide whether something is there but whether that something is doing something. Is there actually activity? As opposed to a static scan, like a CAT scan. The purpose of that is to determine is there something actually there. So, what happens is you go into an imaging center, they give you an injection of glucose, which is sugar. This glucose goes through your body, and it is absorbed by the tissues of your body. The tissues that absorb it the most usually will be tissues that are growing the fastest such as a cancer, or tissues that are under some sort of reparative process as if you had a broken arm and your body is trying to fix it. These areas would require more of the sugar. This sugar that they give you glows, so when they take the picture, wherever the sugar goes, it will glow, and by correlating where it's glowing with the part of the body, they're able to say that this is abnormal or normal. This is what a PET scan ultimately does: it shows function, activity. There is something in your body doing something because it is eating that sugar.
What is 'CT' or 'CAT Scan'?
A CT scan is also known as a computer tomography and it is a very simple scan. It's time tested, you lay on a small table, it slides you through a cylinder that looks like a very very large donut. Multiple small pictures are taken almost in slices of whatever part of the body that is of interest. These are reformatted by a computer into what we call films. When we look at them we're able to differentiate bone from muscle, from blood vessel, from skin, from fat and this is essentially what a ct scan does it will show you the structures from any part of the body that you have interest in looking at.
What is an 'MRI'?
An MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. it's much like a CAT scan, it allows us to take picture of the internal structures of the body, but it has some distinct differences from a cat scan. Where CAT scans are very good for showing the bony structures of your body such as your skeleton, its not as good as showing the soft tissue structures such as, tongue, muscle, or blood vessels. This is where the MRI really shines. If you are trying to differentiate different soft tissues, an MRI will probably be the best test to do this. It can actually differentiate skin from fat, from muscle, from tendon. This is probably the main advantage of an MRI and its biggest utility.
Can I be sedated when taking a PET scan, CT scan or MRI?
Most centers, if you ask, they are equipped to give a sedative, both oral or IV. This is done often for children, and it's also done for adults who have maybe claustrophobia or some problem with lying still. Most of these centers are prepared to give a small sedative to make it a much more comfortable process. You just need to ask for it.
