Hi there

Sorry to hear what you're going through.

Alarm bells always start ringing when we get a quick turnaround don't they?! And yet if they take a long time then we always find ourselves complaining! Ha!

If there's a cause for concern they will often try and get you back earlier, although in some cases there can be a bit of a wait.

I would try not to read too much into the timescales - I've been on both ends of the situation. On one of my scans they found abnormalities and called me the next day and got me in 2 days later. For another one they found issues but just kept my follow up appointment for 3 weeks later to discuss it.

I know it's hard, the waiting is just the worst. I can really sympathise.

Hope it all goes well and just try and take each day as it comes. You could always phone and ask them after the meeting? Although some people and some doctors dislike discussing things over the telephone so they might not be willing.

All the best, fingers crossed it's all clear for you

Kind regards

Rose

Thank you for your reply rose, I'm trying not to think about it but it's hard 

Hi just to echo what Rose said but also the time between the scan and the report is dependent more than anything on how much time the person who did it has to write it up, I think. 

I had one that was faxed over minutes after I'd left the room, that was an ultrasound though so less complicated to interpret, and I rang the surgery and pleaded to be told and it wasn't considered urgent at all, though they were kind enough to get the Dr to ring me back and explain it. It was just super quick to report on. I don't think they would have asked me to come in for a week or so if I hadn't rung, and only then to be told it could wait a few months for a non-urgent appt.

The mri I had was also back quickly, going by the date on the report, but I wasn't asked to come in sooner than the appt I'd got two weeks later. 

So it's often the case that they have the report quickly or whenever the radiologist has written it up, but how quickly they actually contact you is probably more of an indication if that makes sense.

I hope it's a good result when you get it. 

AK 

Oh also you are right about the MDT, they do discuss every case, I've just had a rejection letter after mine was reviewed, it wasn't considered interesting or important enough to worry about so it can go either way!

Good luck x

I am getting my mri results tomorrow do you know what kind of information they can give from a mri? 

Hi Lors,

Well it can give them quite a lot of information about the nature of the tissues in your breast and it's a better way of doing that than say ultrasound or CT (which is better for some other things). 

The images they get from it are in different shades of grey, and different kinds of tissue will have different signals, so for instance they can see when something is made from fat cells or muscle, depending on how light or dark it looks, and they can usually see if there is something there that's unusual, like a lump or an area that looks different to the rest. 

If there is a lump, they can often get an idea what kind of lump it is - so some will look darker or lighter than the muscle or fat around them, because of the type of cells they're made from, and sometimes you see a different pattern, or shape, which can mean it's more likely to be a certain kind of lump. They will take pictures of it in cross-section - so as if they are moving the camera through your breast, 3mm at a time, to show what is inside it as you go along.

They can also see if it is attached to something, like the skin for instance, or if it's sort of solitary like a marble or if it's more shapeless and swirly and looks like it's trying to get into the tissue around it. But some benign things can look like that too, so it's not definitive, just another clue.

Usually there is a spectrum of different things that they will be looking for, based on your "clinical history" - so how big it is, how it feels through the skin, how long it has been there for, or whether you have any pain or a history of things like previous lumps, and so on - and that makes it easier to narrow down. 

The contrast helps to show the pattern of blood flow in and around a lump, by watching how quickly or slowly it absorbs the contrast as they inject it. That can give them all sorts of clues, because different types of lump behave in different ways, and they might see a pattern in the appearance of it after you have the contrast because of what it's made of. That's the really complicated bit I don't understand very well! But it's quite clever.

The upshot is that they can't usually be 100% certain of a diagnosis using MRI, but they might get quite a good idea about the nature of what's in there, and it will help them decide if it's worth taking out so that they can check what it is properly. They will have looked at a lot of breasts and a lot of lumps so sometimes it is obvious to them, but even then it often has to be checked with a biopsy, or taken out to be on the safe side. There is a lot of overlap between certain malignant lumps and certain benign ones, which means this happens quite a lot and no one really knows until it is removed and looked at under a microscope.

On the other hand they can quite often tell you when it definitely looks benign, and will do so, so the fact that you have an appointment doesn't mean it will be bad news. They might want to monitor it, or arrange a biopsy using a needle just to check it's what they think it is, or they might have decided to take it out just to be sure. All of these things are pretty standard and don't mean you have got cancer.

Of course there's a chance they might say it looks quite likely to be something you don't want in there, in which case they will probably do a biopsy - depending on how big it is - or just remove it. And then you will have another wait for results, sigh

But whichever it is, let us know how you get on. I hope this helps a bit x x

PS Sorry I didn't realise I was rambling so much!!

Hi angie thanks for getting Bk to me, so the surgeon said  mri didn't show anything but he could feel the bump under my implant so wants me to have US with contrast next Friday. 
he also said he thinks I'm havin mg a reaction to my implants which is why is so swollen. 
I was on 3rd day of my period When I had MRI I read over last few days that it could of affected the results but I didn't mention that today forgot after he prodded me and I started crying. 
Im going round and round in circles could the MRI have missed anything? 

Oh phew, well that sounds like a good thing. I'd be cautiously happy about it - it is unusual for MRI not to pick something up if there is something there to be picked up!

Given what you say about the menstrual cycle I have gone and looked it up, and you're right, it can alter the appearance of your breasts so it's harder to interpret the images. But they recommend you have the scan between day 3 and day 15 or so of your cycle, so I would imagine that it would have been OK in that regard as the hormones that change the appearance of your breast tissue tend to peak several days before your period, meaning they would have dissipated by the time it's a few days into your new cycle.

You poor thing being poked and prodded, I don't think they realise how uncomfortable that is, it's bound to be upsetting. I hate it too. 

I'm trying to think why they would do a U/S, now. Sometimes when the problem is very close to the surface, it can show certain things better than MRI... but normally it's used to check out something they did find on an MRI (called a second-look ultrasound), not when they didn't find anything!

I think it's quite likely that because you have some swelling they weren't able to see very well what was going on, and they might get a better idea with ultrasound. I don't know; I'm not medical, I've just read way too much about this sort of thing so I'm trying my best but please don't take what I say as necessarily right.

Well at least it sounds like there could be a benign explanation for it, if he thinks you are reacting to the implants. Hopefully that's all it is. 

I hope you manage to relax a bit in the interim, it must be really hard not being sure what it is.

Oh it's cool I am just glad if any of it might help set your mind at rest. I was reading about implants and it's interesting you say that because if there does happen to be a rupture it can cause a thing called a silicone granuloma, which is a little lump where the silicon has leaked and the body recognises it as a foreign body, I think, and forms like a protective lump around it.

So I wonder if that might be something else to keep on the table, as it were. 

I hope this all gets sorted out soon. Scans and that sort of thing really play with your mind don't they, I know how you feel x