Hi PhoenixKayden. Welcome to the forum.

This might sound a silly question, but up which orifice did they put the endoscope?  I've had endoscopies up the bum, up the nose, and down the throat. I've not had one up the penis yet, but maybe that will happen one day.

Did they say anything about why they took the biopsy?  How many did they take? 

Please don't get the idea that they only take biopsies when cancer is suspected, because that's not true. The reason for taking any biopsy is to identify the type of cells in question. The cells will be sent to the pathology lab, who will examine and identify them. 

The wait time for biopsy results is usually a couple of weeks, but might be longer. I know from personal experience how hard it is waiting for the results, so you must try to keep calm.  If possible, allow yourself 15 minutes of worry per day then tell yourself you've done your fair share for today. Or you could try listening to relaxation tapes, or watch relaxation videos on YouTube.  But most of us just take our mind of it by working extra hard. 

Hi Phoenix,

In my experience, biopsies are taken whenever any endoscopy is performed, either of something specific or, if nothing is seen, randomly, to look for signs of, for example, inflammation.

It's usual to be told immediately if something is found, otherwise, it's the wait for biopsy results.

Best Regards

Taff

This endoscopy went down my throat aha. I had sedation so was completely out of it - i don't remember the procedure at all. They didn't tell me the results of the endoscopy, they told my mum when she picked me up. 

They never said anything about why they took the biopsy, just said they took one. They only took one biopsy. 

i was kind of hoping i would have the results in a few days but i guess that's just wishful thinking. 15 mins worry time a day is a good idea actually. 

I had sedation so was completely out of it - i don't remember the procedure at all. They didn't tell me the results of the endoscopy, they told my mum when she picked me up. 

Im just going to try and not think about it, it could be nothing or it could be serious. 

Hi PhoenixKayden. 

This sounds very similar to the procedure I went through in January this year.  It was called panendoscopy and was done under general anaesthetic.  I had it because I had (and still have) an unexplained sore throat.  I had previously had a small endoscope up the nose, and then a neck and throat MRI. 

While I was still in the recovery room, the surgeon sent  a message that he'd not seen anything suspicious but he'd taken a couple of biopsies anyway.  Two weeks later I received the results in a face to face meeting with the consultant, and I was given the all clear for cancer - much to my relief. 

Since your age is 22, no one should be giving any results to your mother that they haven't given to you. That may be a breach of patient confidentiality.  But what does your mother say they told her? 

i was with my mum when they told her, they told her because i was still kind of out of it with the sedation. They said i had h.pylori and that i had mild gastritis with raised erosions. They said they also saw something abnormal so they took a biopsy. 

Ok. Now I understand.  The H. Pylori can be cured with antibiotics, and you might need some treatment for gastritis. Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing what it was they biopsied. You shouldn't assume that it's anything sinister, although waiting for results is really difficult. 

Hi, I work in histology/pathology. The majority of endoscopy samples are treated as non-urgent and not USC. The time scale for USC biopsy (urgent suspected cancer) is 5 days. For larger specimens it is 8 days. For a sample which is not USC you are looking at about 6-8 weeks before the sample is assessed by a consultant. This is due to a 'pool' backlog of cases. We get get hundreds of cases a week, and with only enought staff to deal immediately with some of them - the urgent ones.

What can prolong these is if the consultant needs and further special stains or immuno work done to assist the identification. Where that is the case, the MDT (multi disciplinary team) meeting would know. Therefore the GP would be able to inform the patient of this. In Wales there is a system called Indigo which any GP can access. People think they can’t, and I spend ages letting them know this. 

What the patient needs to do is ring their GP to query it. Your persistence in requesting an answer can help in increasing the speed.

You probably had to wait a lot longer to get an appointment though.

Hi, So i got a call from the doctors today to say they would have my biopsy results next Wednesday and that they would call me to tell me the results. Im not sure what to think but at least ill know in 6 days. 

This means ill have only had to wait for a week and a half when i get my results.