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StephN · 10-05-2005, 12:01 PM

Hi Mary c -
I too have a history with major and aggressive liver mets. All is under control now, my liver is clean as a whistle except for a small spot that they call a hemangioma, and I am NED for over 3 years at this point. A PET scan was what we used to confirm that the last few spots were indeed scars and I could get off the chemos.

When my liver mets were discovered my liver was some 60% involved with tumors, some big as my fist and too many others to count. BUT - the interesting thing is that my liver function were NORMAL, all but one value.
So, my med onc said that this was a very good sign that my liver was very healthy and functioning properly aside from the tumors.
I also learned that a person can live with only about 10% of their liver in good working order.

The liver in one organ that will completely regenerate.
One problem with having scans only when we develop cancer is that the docs don't have something prior to compare with. So, there are always some spots that show up that are due to other causes and not cancer.

10-05-2005, 12:01 PM	#4
StephN Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Misty woods of WA State Posts: 4,128	Liver scans Hi Mary c - I too have a history with major and aggressive liver mets. All is under control now, my liver is clean as a whistle except for a small spot that they call a hemangioma, and I am NED for over 3 years at this point. A PET scan was what we used to confirm that the last few spots were indeed scars and I could get off the chemos. When my liver mets were discovered my liver was some 60% involved with tumors, some big as my fist and too many others to count. BUT - the interesting thing is that my liver function were NORMAL, all but one value. So, my med onc said that this was a very good sign that my liver was very healthy and functioning properly aside from the tumors. I also learned that a person can live with only about 10% of their liver in good working order. The liver in one organ that will completely regenerate. One problem with having scans only when we develop cancer is that the docs don't have something prior to compare with. So, there are always some spots that show up that are due to other causes and not cancer.