It doesn't matter what they suspect, it's what they're able to diagnose that matters. Best to ask up front "might this be cancer?" If you're worried that it might be.
The symptoms of cancer overlap with those of other problems, in my case I was referred for a suspected stomach ulcer and it was cancer. If the GP had put me on a cancer care pathway I would have been diagnosed and treated six months earlier - possibly before I'd reached stage 4.

Good luck!

Dave

Thanks for your reply. I have asked him and he's said "it isn't presenting like a cancer and likely to be benign but we need a biopsy to dot the is and cross the ts"

This was my endoscopist after having one this week to confirm an ulcer like you. But they found a submucosal lesion which they've biopsied.

I'm absolutely convinced it's cancer but everyone keeps saying that he would have told me if he was suspicious of the lesion 

Hi Jessicarabbit,

I know what you mean with the medics saying it's benign, it's nothing - scans done by radiology flagged issues for me - but then 'a why should it be removed? It's tiny. It can't possibly cause you any pain' - a conversation I had with a general surgeon, who after I argued with him removed my buttock lump. After a very painful surgery - something I hope I never experience again - he said nothing. He clammed up and said nothing.

6 weeks after removal I am still waiting for histology results - which have been sent for a second opinion to another laboratory. Benign? Hmmmm why send it to another lab????  I haven't a clue what I am dealing with and I haven't a clue when I will finally get any results. 

Enough of my gripes! I really hope that things get resolved for you soon and you get the treatment you need. They won't tell you anything until they are certain with your results and I hate to say you might have to wait a while for them. I think we people who are labelled as 'benign' patients get a really rough deal - we have to wait forever for anything, and all the while not getting the treatment we really need. 

Let me know how you get on - and good luck xx

I can't imagine why they would want to lie to you. It would make it more stressful when they do diagnose it and it would be very likely that they would get kickback from patients, along the lines of "you said it was benign and it wasn't!" Even if they just said "probably," some people would hear "it's fine" and might not even bother going ahead with the tests. It would be a really dangerous thing to do.

I would assume that if they've said it's probably benign, then it's probably benign. From what he said, it sounds like cancer is very unlikely in your case but there is always the possibility he could be wrong and he is not taking any risks. He is absolutely right there. Better to test 100 people who get benign results than to risk missing one cancer in the one case where he is wrong.

I think if they suspect cancer, they often give a hint. They might not say "it's probably cancer," because it still might not be and they would be worrying some people for no reason, but they might say something "I am very concerned" or "it might be fine, but you should probably be prepared for a serious diagnose" or at the very least they would say "we won't know until we get the results. They almost certainly would not say "it doesn't look like cancer."

I have been having difficulty swallowing since February and had an Endoscopy in April, I was open and honest with the Endoscopist prior to the procedure that based on the longevity of the symptoms that I was concerned it was cancer. She advised me before the procedure that if she seen anything concerning she would tell me afterwards.

She told me afterwards that everything appeared normal and whilst she took biopsies she only did so because she was already in there so why not take them. She said biopsy results are taking longer to process at the minute because of Covid (6-8 weeks) but if any serious pathology was found you would likely hear in around a week.

Just my own experience, hope it helps.

Just to add. 

I spoke to the Dr again yesterday who performed it. He's a consultant gastroenterologist who was covering on the morning of my gastroscopy. 

He said that he was 70% sure it would come back benign but needed to take the biopsy whilst he was in there as process.

Why doesn't that make me feel any better? I'm crying all the time and convinced it's a death sentence 

If you're deemed to be of sound mind, and you ask the question, then yes, they are legally obligated to disclose your medical data to you. That includes what they may or may not be testing you for.

But i suspect a lot of medical professionals wouldn't out right state you may have cancer if 1) it wasn't really at the top of the list of possible causes or 2) you didn't ask them straight out.

Sometimes they can't win for losing. They get slated if they unduly worry some people, and get slated if they divulge information before it's fully known.

You see it on these very forums. People angry as their gp stated they will have to check for cancer, whilst others are angry that they weren't told. It's always better to ask them directly if you have concerns. After all, they can't carry out any test without your explicit permission. So you are free to ask why they're doing any given test.

Thanks for responding. 

I spoke to him again yesterday and he said he was 70% sure it'll be benign but I'm not soothed by it.

I'm guessing they wouldn't put a percentage on it if they overly concerned by it?

Obviously I know any definites are at risk of having a lawsuit if they are wrong. 

The waiting is the worst part 

The way to look at it, the majority of people who probably present with an issue similar to you, will have a benign cause. So they're using an educated guess. It's all they can do in the absence of conclusive tests.

Even if it looks like cancer, acts like cancer and they've seen something similar before, they still can't tell you , you have cancer. Only tissue samples can give them that answer. Even things that look grim on scans turn out to benign once the tissue has been biopsy. It's why hard tissue cancers are biopsied. No one really knows until the pathology comes back. Scans etc are just tools to help in the diagnostic journey. They aren't what give you a firm diagnosis. Same with bloods. Bloods are good once you have a diagnostic answer and they can help monitor the situation. The reason being, antibodies, enzymes, proteins etc can all be high or low for a variety of benign reasons.

The only real exceptions to the above are blood cancers and impossible to biopsy tumours due to the locations. They follow a different diagnostic pathway unless there is something to biopsy.