Hi everyone, this a little long winded but bear with me.

Earlier this year, my mother fell in her garden and landed on her back. She was in severe pain but was turned away by medical staff at our local emergency room and told she had pulled a muscle. I encouraged her to pursue the matter with her GP as she was still in a great deal of pain.

Her GP then sent her for an X-ray which found a fractured spinal disk and on set osteoporosis so she was referred for an MRI with the orthopaedic clinic. Unfortunately during this MRI, multiple tumours ok her spine were found. Her GP called her in to advise that these were metastatic tumours and that a CT scan was required to find the primary site of disease.

She has under gone a full physical, multiple blood tests and a full CT scan and we're currently awaiting the results. 
 

What I'm trying to understand is why they would tell her that the tumours were metastatic without completing a biopsy on the tumour and without her having previously been diagnosed with any form of cancer? 
 

Anyone that would know any information around this would be excellent, we kind of feel like we're in fog and not really sure of what's going on around us.

Thank you