But wait....there's more!

wrsmith2x

Posted before about hip pain and finally got results of MRI on hip.....torn cartilage!  Never so happy to hear not so great news.....but no cancer!  So followed up with an Orthopedic specialist and he says hip pain shouldn't be that severe with a torn labrum (cartilage) so he ordered a bone scan!  Back to worrying for me.  Hip pain is so bad....spent this past weekend on Darvocets.......and it won't go away.  Am sitting at work right now hurting.  Bone scan is tomorrow......i hope it brings good news too.....no cancer.  My question......can a bone scan pick up bone mets that an MRI might have missed?  MRI was just on hip......doc says pain my actually be coming from my back.....but my back doesn't hurt!  Answers, please!

lorrhaw

I can't answer your question about bone scans vs, MRIs but did want to wish you well.  I had a spot show up on my pet scan that did turn out to be a bone met and I had no pain associated with the met at all.  Now I am experiencing minor hip pain which would cause me to worry but just went through a whole round of tests and nothing showed up so I am chalking it up to old age, I am only 49 but old age seems to be appeariing a lot earlier than I expected!

I am wishing you good news on the scans and hopefully it will just be the torn cartilage and I hope they can figure out a way to help with the pain.

billiegirl

I have had major issues with left hip, leg and foot pain for almost 3 years now I too was worried sick about mets. X-ray done after 6 months of pain showed arthritic changes only. No one offered an MRI of low back until a year later when I ref myself to a Pain Medicine Dr. Turned out to be a severely herniated disc at L 4-5 causing nerve entrapment. Still no fun but at least I know what the problem is from. Steroid shots have helped a lot as I am to risky a candidate for any more major surgery. I do think that a bone scan shows abnormal areas through-out the skeleton. If it does not offer the answers you need, maybe a low-back MRI is the way to go. Pain is the pits!

tibet

I heard PET CT scan can pick up what bone scan cannot. I read someone wrote that there are two kinds of bones mets, one is in the bone which bone scan can pick up and the other is eats on the bone which bone scan cannot pick up but MRI can. So usually PET CT scan can pick both. I am not sure if MRI can pick both.

jenn3

I have a lot of back problems, cyst, bulging disks, arthritis and so on...... I do suffer with hip pain when things are unhappy in my back.  Actually, most of my pain is usually in my lower back and hip.  I get injections once or twice a year (facet joint blocks) - they really help.  Not sure if this is what you're dealing with, but hip pain can be caused by back problems. 

As for Bone scan vs MRI - I think the bone scan can see "differently" than the MRI and the PET scan can detect better than both. 

Hope you feel better soon (((HUGS)))

tibet

wrsmith2X

Have you got a result from your bone scan? They normally can tell the result right after the scan. Hope it is a good one. Pls update us.