The SUVmax value increase could partially be explained by the PET being taken on two different scanners (I could see this in a macro view where the background in the image is brighter in the new image).
But in the final analysis, the tumour is a little bit smaller, but a little more intense.
Dr. Noonan referred me to Radiology for a consult to see what they thought.
Yesterday (1 week after the results meeting) I met with Radiology. We spent over an hour going over the scan itself and I was offered a spot in a clinical trial: SIMPLIFY-SABR-COMET.
Standard of care today for my type of lesion is Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR) where they use multiple beams of radiation focused on the tumour, normally given 5 doses over 5 days.
The study is to determine whether giving a single dose of the radiation (equivalent to the cumulative total of the traditional 5 doses) has a different side effect profile from the standard protocol.
The advantage to the medical system would be to increase treatment by 500%.
The advantage to the patient would be to reduce the time you spend getting the treatment by 80%.
But nobody at this point knows if the side effects between the two methods are similar.
The assumption is that the treatment outcome would be the same because you are getting the same amount of radiation - just one is all at once, and one is over 5 days.
Because it's a clinical trial, there would be a lot of reporting, bloodwork and imaging (PET/CT/MRI).
So I'm leaning toward saying yes - although I have a few more days to think about it.