Need advice about liver spot

[SusanAnne]

Since my dx in March '03 all has been well. I was stage IIIa, had mastectomy and was in the herceptin trials (got it with the taxol). My onc. doesn't do routine scans but does do tumor markers. The marker in December was still within normal range but had gone from 12 to 21. I expressed some concern and he agreed to send me for CT of chest, ab and pelvis along with bone scan.
Everything came back good but there was a notation about a spot on liver (2mm) which was too small to evaluate. Onc. stated that it most likely is a cyst and didn't recommend any follow-up. My question is at what point do liver mets start messing with blood work (liver enzymes) results? Also, can a sonogram be done as follow-up or is there no such thing as a liver sono?

Susan

When I had initial scans taken just after diagnosis, I also have a small spot show up on the CT of my liver. My doctor said the same as yours, that it was likely a cyst. She did, however, order an MRI of the liver, which confirmed it was a tiny, harmless cyst. Just my opinion, but I would definitely want some kind of follow-up, esp. if it can be done with a painless, non-invasive procedure such as an MRI. I'm sure it will turn out to be nothing to worry about, but don't you want to be sure? Best wishes.

[Sherryg683]

When I had my original diagnosis the Pet scan showed two liver lesions..one was 1.5cm, the other 7mm. They did not pick up the die for cancer. My Oncologist mentioned that he had compared the scan to another scan I had done 3 years earlier and the lesions weren't there 3 years prior. He said they were not in a spot that they could biopsy and we would just have to watch them. After 6 weeks of chemo, we did another scan..they had shrunk in half....conclusions were that they were Cancer. I have been told that non cancerous tissues do not shrink with chemotherapy...I emailed John Hopkins University about this and they said the same thing. A lot of this is having to wait and see. Your is so small it would seem almost impossible to know for sure, if they can't biopsy it. I would definately keep track of it and if it starts growing then take further steps. ...sherryg683

[Helen]

My initial CT scan when diagnosed was one small spot on the liver. My onc also ordered a PET scan as well as biopsy. It turned out being mets.

Helen

[Barbara]

Hi:

My initial MRI showed two spots on my liver. I had a follow-up scan in three months which confirmed that the spots were only cysts. Normally the radiologist recommends a follow-up scan as they did in my case. Likdewise, a Chest CT taken nine months after my initial diagnosis showed spots on my lung and a follow-up scan was recommended by the radiologist and ordered by my oncologist. These spots turned out to be mucus plugs from Herceptin.

I would request a follow-up scan.

Barbara

[SusanAnne]

If spots on your liver were cancer, did it show up in your blood chemistry that something was up in the liver? Just wondering how far along do the mets have to be inorder to show up in bloodwork?

Susan

[Sherryg683]

My Oncologist doesn't do the blood chemistry tests, he doesn't believe they are as accurate as scans. My question is how can they tell by doing another scan if it is cancer or cysts. I thought a biopsy needed to be done to be sure. On my liver mets, even the Pet scan didn't show it was cancer...it didn't pick up the dye. When they started shrinking with chemo is when they decided it had to be cancer. I still have hopes that maybe it isn't or wasn't but I've had too many reliable doctors tell me if it's affected by chemo, it's cancerous...sherryg683

[jhandley]

Hi
I had a 15 mm liver met. My blood marker Ca 15 was 14 (below 30 is normal). I only discovered the liver spot because I had scans after a second tumour in the breast. I think if you have a rapidly growing tumour and your markers rise quickly eg: up to 100's or 1000's then obviously ther is activity somewhere.

cheers
Jackie