MRI reading help! Brain tumor regrowth or other possibilities?

[sgall16]

My son is in remission from brain cancer (he is 3 1/2 years old now).  His follow-up MRI results have left us scared with many questions.  We get rescanned and meet with his doctors again in a month, but we were hoping for some help with interpreting the written results of the MRI.

1. Post-operative changes of previous resection of left cerebral ATRT.
2. There is slight interval increase in the signal abnormality posterior to the surgical cavity, with small cystic area along the superior aspect. This could possibly represent a recurrent tumor although no abnormal enhancement is seen associated with it. Close follow-up is recommended.

My questions:
1. What does this result mean exactly?
2. Are there any other possibilities that could cause this increase besides a tumor?

Any information would be appreciated!  We are agonizing over what this could mean, and a month is a long time to wait when it's your child!  Thanks!

[sgall16]

Thank you so much for posting!  I am grateful that you did!  It helps to hear another's point of view!  I am sorry that your family had to endure childhood cancer as well.  It is scary, but I appreciate your positive outlook.  My thoughts are also with you and your family.  Thanks again for taking the time to give me some feedback!

[ggreg]

I know how you feel about your sweet child, my brother's son had cancer and it scared the whole family to the core.  I am not expert in radiology reports, but the changes noted, while being described as a "small cystic area," is downplayed by "no abnormal enhancement is seen associated with it."  So, it's unlikely the cancer has come back, rather it's an abnormality that must be watched closely.  I CAN tell you, from reading a lot about a cancer expert in Texas who uses decidedly different ways of treating especially cancer in children, that many do have a return of cancer almost as a normal thing, and then AFTER treating it the second time, it's gone for good.  So, while this report is not totally clean, and even if cancer does return, it should not be nearly so bad as you might think at first.  When you see the doctor next month, he will explain much better what he believes the pictures show, and will probably say it's not cancer, but rather a typical post-op scar type thing going on.  I wish I had more to tell, and I almost didn't post, but I know how it feels, and I knew just enough that I thought it would be worth my while to try to say that it really is most likely not anything either bad or unexpected.