Do GP's give positive cancer results via telephone appointment?

[nikkimc6780]

Hi everyone!

Sorry it's a bit of a long story here, I had a private general health blood test done in January which showed an elevated ALT liver result so I booked a private ultrasound for my liver in February, it showed a mass about 1.9cm big, I do have mild NAFLD, he wrote that it could be focal sparing (common with fatty liver) but to seek further investigation. GP received report from him and contacted the liver specialist in the hospital, liver specialist said not urgent so he booked a routine ultrasound to see for themselves and to book bloods, bloods normal this time. Anyway June came along still hadn't received appointment so I called the ultrasound department and she asked me to come in the next day, had the ultrasound in hospital, results came back as 'not typical of focal sparing urgent MRI booked' mass is pretty much the same size as it was in January. I had the MRI last Thursday and received a call from my GP surgery this morning saying that they've booked a telephone appointment for next Tuesday the 8th July to discuss the MRI results.
Is he really going to tell me that I have cancer over the telephone?? To get the results of the urgent MRI so quickly it's making me think that he will.

I'm on the verge of a breakdown I haven't slept or eaten properly since January! Another week of waiting for this now 😔 I'm driving myself insane with all the searching on Google trying to see when others received their results and if by telephone or in person.

My daughter has a severe anxiety disorder (won't leave my side ever, have to home school etc) as she's always been afraid that I will die if she's not with me 🥺 (likely from the very bad migraines I get with my monthly which would likely seem much more serious to a child) so I can't let her even sense anything is off, I'm just exhausted and I don't see why I now have to wait another week to discuss results when people call up for a lot less and book same day emergency GP appointments. I'm in Wales so our NHS app doesn't show test results for some reason!

Sending love to anyone who is going through a hard time right now ❤️

Sorry that you are going through this.

I'm not an expert, but I'm not sure that a MRI scan by itself would give a 100% diagnosis of cancer ?

My thought is that that a GP would not say any more that that they were going to refer you in to the NHS 2 week pathway for further follow up, although I'm not sure if and how the fact that you have had some tests done privately would impact that.

Sorry just seen you have the app.

MissyPants
23:19
Well if you have the NHS app they certainly provide an inclination of what it may be in the results section.
I saw notes from my doctor stating suspected cancer tumour for a lump on my knee., it wasn't cancer tho.
Also all results of tests go on there. I had an elevated something in my stool from a stool sample and it suggested cancer. Turned out that wasn't cancer either.
However i've never had a result implicitly stating cancer so l don't know if they would put that it was on the NHS app? I wouldn't recommend the app it to anyone to be honest, as reading results can make you Worry.
So I have no idea if they would say it over phone conversation. I suspect it would be face to face?
* sorry I had no idea how to work the editing earlier!*

You won’t be given a “this is/isn’t cancer” result from an MRI alone. The GP can advise you if there’s a strong suspicion as a result of what was seen, but more than likely they’ll be letting you know what the next steps are if cancer is still a possibility I.e. biopsy, which would confirm it definitively.

Some cancers cannot be detected via MRI. You may get called to arrange further tests. You can request your diagnosis to be given over the phone, but unless you ask they tend to call you to come in.

OP, I’m a GP and I would suggest you call your GP in the morning and let them know how worried you are about this result and ask if it’s possible to speak to someone urgently the same day about it. As you say, people ask for emergency appointments all the time for much less. I’d hate to think any of my patients were having sleepless nights waiting to discuss a result they are worried could show cancer.

As others have said, an MRI result by itself is pretty much never going to be able to show a cancer for sure, but there may be clues on the MRI report making it more or less likely than originally suspected. This call will likely be to go through what the report shows and discuss the next steps. It may well be that they want to send you for further tests or a 2 week wait referral to the liver specialist on the back of what your MRI shows. If a scan is very suspicious of cancer I would generally try to do a face to face appointment, however being summoned to speak to a GP face to face about a result can also make people panicky and assume the worst.

I’m slightly confused as to why your GP had the MRI report and not the liver specialist they referrred to who booked your repeat ultrasound which led to the MRI in the first place. Prepandemic this would not have happened as your specialist would have a pre booked face to face appointment shortly following the scan to discuss your results with you. But as the report seems to have somehow landed with your GP, do contact them and let them know you are super worried about cancer and want to speak to them urgently about the results. It is still possible that your GP is just being super efficient and booking a soon appointment to let you know the MRI was reassuring knowing that you’ve been worried!

For breast cancer when I had it was told in person by the hospital which I think is fairly standard. So its hopefully not cancer but GP may be calling to just go through findings or to refer for other tests. For breast cancer it stays with the hospital rather than back to GP in my area.

My MRI did pick up cancer but it was a certain type of breast cancer which mammos / ultrasound miss 50% of the time and was preceded by a mammo/ultrasound/biopsy.

I had an MRI which showed a cyst on my liver so they sent me to have a PET scan and a CT scan as well. They called me to tell me that there was nothing to worry about (they had previously given me a cancer nurse so I think they really thought it was something nasty). I hope everything works out for you. They did send me to see the liver specialists though for a second opinion so it may be something like that .