please help!!!! - General Health Message Board

karenp123 · 11-14-2003, 11:43 AM

My friend had an mri and they found a tumour. He is going to have surgery to have it removed in a month. The Dr. says he doesn't think its cancer but won't know for sure until a sample of the tumour is sent to the lab. I have two questions:

1. I thought an mri could diagnose cancer. Am I wrong?
2. Doesn't a month seem like a long time to wait if it is cancer?

cattys · 11-16-2003, 04:28 PM

I am sorry to hear about your friend. I agree that a month is a awfull long time to wait. You would think that if it were anything serious it would be sooner.

I think the dr. looks for certain things with a MRI to tell between benign and nonbenign tumors. They can't tell you for sure until it is biopsied.

My husband had a cat scan that showed a tumor in his chest and we were told it looked like it was not cancer but we could not be 100 percent sure until it was biopsied. Thankfully it was not cancer.

I wish you and your friend the best of luck. It is awfull that dr's make you wait so long to get piece of mind.

take care

noelwr · 11-18-2003, 09:15 AM

Did he say what kind of tumor? Not all tumors are bad. I have a fat tumor in my neck and that is benign - it is only bad if it presses against nerves or other things in your body. It is good that he is having the tumor removed - it will undergo biopsy and then you'll know for sure what it is. Good luck to you and your buddy!