SUV on PSMA-PET

[Jewelrylady]

I have seen other posts mention SUV from PSMA results. What is SUV. My husband had a PSMA - PET, but report never said anything about SUV.

[Tall_Allen]

Standard Uptake Value - the amount of the radioindicator that latched onto the cancer. The higher, the more PSMA found.

[Jewelrylady in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks. All it says is intense uptake in left posterior lateral prostate gland. No regional nodes are detected. Then it mentions intense focus on 3 spots on spine and one rib. No where does it say SUV. Is that unusual not to mention it?

[treedown]

My Pylarify PSMA Pet scan had no SUV on it either. I asked multiple Drs and they couldn't explain why not.

[dhccpa in reply to treedown]

Yes, I dislike that we can't talk directly to the radiologist. I've thought of calling them directly but haven't yet.

[treedown in reply to dhccpa]

I thought it was standard, but apparently not.

[Sewinggam]

We are at Duke and our doctor said Duke doesn’t report SUV. I can’t remember the whole explanation but recall they didn’t feel it was an accurate indicator, which I thought interesting since it’s mentioned a lot on this site.

[dhccpa in reply to Sewinggam]

Interesting

[Still_in_shock in reply to Sewinggam]

It was a great indicator for me! Showed me that SUV was diminishing during treatment.

[dhccpa]

My PSMA report showed SUV of 24.7 in the prostate, but nowhere else. My report mentions SUV but not the word "avid."

[Jewelrylady]

I was reviewing his PSMA from last year because I didn’t remember seeing anything about SUV, but saw it mentioned here quite often, so I was just curious if this was an omission or common.

[Rodeoz15]

Here is a good explanation by GPT:

In a PSMA PET scan, SUV is a number that shows how much of the radioactive tracer (used in the scan) is taken up by different parts of your body. The tracer specifically attaches to PSMA, a protein found in high amounts on prostate cancer cells.

If a spot has a high SUV, it means that area is taking up a lot of the tracer. This could indicate prostate cancer or something suspicious.

If the SUV is low, it usually means the area is less likely to have cancer.

[Jewelrylady in reply to Rodeoz15]

My husband’s scan didn’t mention SUV

[Jpburns]

I think “avidity” means brightness in terms of what the radiologist sees on the test. The more avidity, the larger SUV and the greater uptake.