White spot on vertebrae in ct scan.

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Dani444
Dani444 Member Posts: 522
edited July 2021 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

Hey everyone just looking to vent my anxiety maybe get some opinions. My RO orders a chest CT with contrast yearly for 3 years after treatment. I am aware this is not the norm. So he always sees me directly after the CT to look at it right away. He goes very quickly but as he was going over the spine he paused at a vertebrae that had an irregular bright white spot on it. When looking at the cross section of the vertebrae there is an irregular area in the vertebral body in that same vertebrae.

So he then compares it to last years CT and the white spot is there, just not as bright and the spot in the body of the vertebrae looked similar to me. He said if it was cancer it would have changed in a year. I asked what the white spot was and he said “ maybe a calcification from trauma” and when asked about the spot on the other view he said “it looks like a hemangioma”

Nothing was noted in the read from last year and he said if nothing is noted in this read then we will just scan again in a year. I really would just like to know what the hell it is. I understand that this is exactly why they don’t normally do routine scans on early stage cancer, but here I am. I asked the nurse if she could make a note to have the radiologist that is doing the official read to look specifically at that spot but she didn’t seem like that was a thing. Thank you for listening.

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  • cookie54
    cookie54 Member Posts: 134
    edited July 2021

    Hi Danni444, If you would like to take this one step further you can ask your MO to speak to the radiologist to specifically look at that area. It is better to have your

    MO ask then to go through the technologist. Maybe it will ease your mind, good luck!

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  • orangeflower
    orangeflower Member Posts: 146
    edited July 2021

    That sounds so anxiety-provoking Dani! Would taking your records to another doctor for a second opinion put your mind at ease?

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited July 2021

    Hopefully you can get a second opinion. Hoping it is benign.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited July 2021

    Dani, I hope it's nothing.

    I'll second cookie's suggestion. A few years back I had a breast MRI that had an incidental finding of a spot on my spine. From the description on the MRI report, this spot could have been harmless or it could have been mets - the description was ambiguous. I contacted my MO. His specialty is breast cancer, so he pulled in a radiologist who specialized in spinal imaging (rather than the breast radiologist who had done the MRI report), and together they took a close-up look at the imaging. The spinal radiologist identified whatever it was (I can't even remember now) and said that it was not a concern.

    Hoping that your spot is not a concern either, once it's looked at more closely.



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  • Dani444
    Dani444 Member Posts: 522
    edited July 2021

    Thank you everyone for responding and for the advice. I have been Checking my patient portal way to much but no sign of the report. If it is not mentioned I will definitely call my MO then and go that route. Thank you for the suggestion! I hate this anxiety……

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  • Dani444
    Dani444 Member Posts: 522
    edited July 2021

    Finally got the results. It states “probably benign sclerotic lesion in the lower thoracic spine vertebral body is stable." PROBABLY 🤬. For the love of everything that is good and holy!!!!! I am guessing this is good. Also in the indication it says history of breast cancer, and history of lung cancer. I have never had lung cancer. Not much confidence in this.

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  • cookie54
    cookie54 Member Posts: 134
    edited July 2021

    Glad your wait is over and you got clarification. Yes the "probably" , some radiologists love to use probable to cover their butts. I am in the radiology field and see it all day long! Some rads will commit to what they are saying and others like to keep it vague to cover their butts. But never the less there is no change in the lesion which is great. Yea I hear ya on the typo of having lung cancer too, does make you question things. Be well and take care.

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited July 2021

    I had recent CT and PET scans (not for breast issues) and the results were chock full of "probably benign." Grrrr!!! I get that they're sticklers for absolute accuracy, but it's NOT reassuring.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited July 2021

    From imaging, "probably benign" (or sometimes, "benign appearing") is usually as much as a radiologist is willing to say, since it's obviously impossible to know definitively whether anything is benign without a biopsy. In most cases, "probably benign" warrants either no follow-up or a 6 month rescan to confirm appearance and stability.

    I currently have 5 "probably benign" lesions that all started out as incidental findings on imaging that was being done for some other purpose. I'm fine with those. They are better than "indeterminate" lesions, and I have some of those too.

    The older we get and the more imaging that we get, the more of these things show up. For those of us with a history of cancer, it inevitably leads to a bit of uncertainty, but these types of findings are commonplace. What I've found is that because of my history of cancer, the radiologist is more likely to suggest a 6 month follow-up as a precaution, often noting that the follow-up is being recommended because of "the patient's history of breast cancer".

    In your case, if no 6 month follow-up has been suggested, then the radiologist is pretty certain that this is nothing to be concerned about.

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  • Dani444
    Dani444 Member Posts: 522
    edited July 2021

    Thank you allagain for the responses. My anxiety is back to baseline!

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  • LivinLife
    LivinLife Member Posts: 1,332
    edited July 2021

    Just want to send support Dani!!! I cannot imagine how you're feeling.... You've rec'd great feedback though....

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  • gailmary
    gailmary Member Posts: 332
    edited July 2021
    • Dani, I've had a few suspicious spots on scans and doc says either it would have grown OR it's not cancer. OR the meds you are taking care controlling it. Yes, nerve wracking.
    • Gailmary
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