CT scan following cancer diagnosis

[antonym]

I am told by the hospital that they are obliged to get me CT scanned within 2 weeks starting from the colonoscopy which found cancer (yesterday). Is this right and is it in practice adhered to?

[callow]

I am very sorry about your news yesterday.

You will generally have a CT scan quickly. I work in an Endoscopy Unit and the majority of the time the patient will come away with a CT appointment on the day of colonoscopy. Occasionally this doesn't happen (like when one the scanners has broken). The CT scan is to see if the cancer has spread. Once the surgeon and medical team has this information they are able to plan your treatment.

There are government targets and one is that all cancer patients will have their first treatment within 31 days of diagnosis. Hopefully your hospital will have a specialist nurse that will be in touch soon.

[antonym]

Thank you!

And biopsies - I have been told 10 days for results. is that just backlog in the system or do they have to culture things and wait for them to grow?

[CMOTDibbler]

They don't have to grow anything, but there may be a number of different tests to do on the biopsy samples and reviews by a few people.

Good luck with your treatment

[antonym]

Thanks!