Radiology - Question

Author

Question

SpineofGod

2005-01-11, 7:12 pm

For the last few weeks I've been experiencing upper left quadrant
abdominal discomfort. My doctor told me I probably had an ulcer, gave
me Zantac, and set me up for a complete abdominal ultrasound. Today I
had the ultrasound. The tech took 20 minutes or so to work through my
right side. Almost as soon as she asked me to turn over, and started
checking the area where I had discomfort (right around the lowest left
rib), I noticed that she dwelled on an area. I saw a white spot on the
screen like a large silver dollar. She seemed to make four copies of
this on the screen and suddenly declared the test over without working
through the rest of my left side. I am deeply concerned about this. I
am a 30 year-old male, and scared out of my XXX, honestly. Especially
since a friend told me that ultrasounds will not detect ulcers, and
perhaps the doc felt something or saw something and didn't want to
excite me. I was told test results will be sent to my doctor in two
days and I was told I could leave. Does this spot that I saw the tech
make four copies of on the screen necessarily mean that I am FUBAR, or
what?

Imabug

2005-01-11, 7:12 pm

"SpineofGod" <thebackstreets@aol.com> wrote in
news:1104889213.960289.105220@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> For the last few weeks I've been experiencing upper left quadrant
> abdominal discomfort. My doctor told me I probably had an ulcer, gave
> me Zantac, and set me up for a complete abdominal ultrasound. Today I
> had the ultrasound. The tech took 20 minutes or so to work through my
> right side. Almost as soon as she asked me to turn over, and started
> checking the area where I had discomfort (right around the lowest left
> rib), I noticed that she dwelled on an area. I saw a white spot on the
> screen like a large silver dollar. She seemed to make four copies of
> this on the screen and suddenly declared the test over without working
> through the rest of my left side. I am deeply concerned about this. I
> am a 30 year-old male, and scared out of my XXX, honestly. Especially
> since a friend told me that ultrasounds will not detect ulcers, and
> perhaps the doc felt something or saw something and didn't want to
> excite me. I was told test results will be sent to my doctor in two
> days and I was told I could leave. Does this spot that I saw the tech
> make four copies of on the screen necessarily mean that I am FUBAR, or
> what?
>
>
it means that it was something the technologist wanted to bring to the
radiologist's attention. wait for your doctor to get the results back
from the radiologist before you start panicking. your doctor will
start treatment or prescribe other tests based on the radiologist's
findings.

Eugene

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Cindy

2005-01-11, 7:12 pm

SpineofGod wrote:
> For the last few weeks I've been experiencing upper left quadrant
> abdominal discomfort. My doctor told me I probably had an ulcer, gave
> me Zantac, and set me up for a complete abdominal ultrasound. Today I
> had the ultrasound. The tech took 20 minutes or so to work through my
> right side. Almost as soon as she asked me to turn over, and started
> checking the area where I had discomfort (right around the lowest left
> rib), I noticed that she dwelled on an area. I saw a white spot on the
> screen like a large silver dollar. She seemed to make four copies of
> this on the screen and suddenly declared the test over without working
> through the rest of my left side. I am deeply concerned about this. I
> am a 30 year-old male, and scared out of my XXX, honestly. Especially
> since a friend told me that ultrasounds will not detect ulcers, and
> perhaps the doc felt something or saw something and didn't want to
> excite me. I was told test results will be sent to my doctor in two
> days and I was told I could leave. Does this spot that I saw the tech
> make four copies of on the screen necessarily mean that I am FUBAR, or
> what?
>

As first diagnosis procedure, I think your physician chose right one --
sonography because sonography doesn't require contrast media such as
barium. Since you may have ulcer, he didn't want to cover the stomach
tissue with the contrast -- I don't know, but it sounds quite thoughtful
in that aspect. You don't need radiation unnecessary. I see many
patients go through ultrasound first then, mammography, X-ray, CT scan,
MRI and so on. Sonography is always the first procedure. If your
physician is not happy with your sonograph, he should send you to
fluoroscopy (x-ray). There, the tech will take a couple scout films (no
contrast), then he/she will administer barium. The radiologist will
film the movement of your stomach into a video machine.

I hope you just had unnecessary gas or air not ulcer. Gas or air can
cause a lot of pain and discomfort in the abdominal cavity.

By the way, it is very important for us techs that we don't discuss with
the patient about the diagnosis. We have to direct the patient to talk
with his/her physician.

PACS_GAWD

2005-01-12, 7:10 am

Imabug wrote:
> "SpineofGod" <thebackstreets@aol.com> wrote in
> news:1104889213.960289.105220@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
>
>
>
> it means that it was something the technologist wanted to bring to the
> radiologist's attention. wait for your doctor to get the results back
> from the radiologist before you start panicking. your doctor will
> start treatment or prescribe other tests based on the radiologist's
> findings.
>
> Eugene
>
>
test

richard.epstein@alum.mit.edu

2005-01-12, 7:10 am

Hopefully, you have received results by now.

Generally an ultrasound of the abdomen has a lot more to cover on the
right side than the left.
The right side has the liver (big organ, can have lots of problems),
the gallbladder (gallstones),
the bile duct (hard to find), the pancreas (hard to see) and the right
kidney.

The left side has the left kidney and the spleen (not much happens in
the spleen, and it's not that big).

Therefore, it seems reasonable that the study of the left side took
less time than the right.

Regardless of what the technologist saw, they would not stop the study
early. Although they are usually
quite knowledgable, they have to take pictures of everything, so the
radiologist can review the
entire study. They cannot stop early, just because they found something
interesting.

I don't know what looked like "a large silver dollar", it might have
been 4 images of your kidney taken from top to bottom.
-Good luck