My doctor wants me to come in to talk about my MRI results. Should I be worried?

He is probably concerned but if it was urgent, he wouldn’t set an appointment that far off.
Please let us know what happens.

What @filmfann said. If they felt it was urgent, you’d be in that same day.

Good luck!

I wouldn’t be worried. It could easily be your doctor wanting to get more money out of you for another appointment.

I would call the diagnostic center and ask for a copy of the report and disc of the results. Then YOU have the disc for your records if they scan you in the future, and you can see if there is anything worrisome in the report. I’d still go to the follow up maybe, even if the report is ok, IF you like this doctor and want to move forward with him.

I’m not a doctor, I’m not giving you medical advice, I’m just telling you what I would do. I pretty much NEVER wait to get results from my doctor.

The diagnostic center I use always gives me a copy of everything for free.

What would you consider urgent, and non urgent?

Since this is a new doctor, it is very reasonable that she wants to see you in person to discuss your results of your MRI in person, especially since she has nothing to compare it with from your earlier results. Not all doctors just want your money, they actually want to help you with your issues and sometimes follow up visits are not charged to you.
Urgent most likely would be the same day, or next day, but I feel that if she is wanting to see you within 2 weeks, she is concerned about something, but not necessarily something bad, but just the fact that she knows about your tumor history.
Good luck, and let us know if you are okay with that.

Thank you. I’ll let you guys know what happens.

@chyna “Since this is a new doctor, it is very reasonable that she wants to see you in person to discuss your results of your MRI in person, especially since she has nothing to compare it with from your earlier results. ”

Totally agree with this statement. Obviously you’ve got a serious medical situation. I can’t imagine an MD that’s seeing you as a new patient simply calling you up and saying “you’re good.” In theory this is a life-threatening condition so it is very appropriate to discuss the situation in the office with good documentation. That certainly doesn’t mean it’s bad news.

Wishing you the very best with your test results and future good health.

I’m no doctor, but if I was dealing with a tumor, I’d not feel comfortable making a diagnosis based solely on an MRI. The MRI wouldn’t be able to tell if it was malignant or not. A Biopsy would do that. And you didn’t mention them doing a biopsy.

But the thing that hits me as odd and disarming in the whole thing is that you said that it was only 4 hours after the MRI that they were setting up the appointment. I guess it is possible to get results that quickly if it was an emergency that the MRI was being done for. But the radiologist is the one that reviews the MRI data and then forwards the results over to the doctor. The physician might review it him/herself, but not necessarily. Either way, it generally takes more like a week to get results and not 4 hours. I’m guessing the appointment was to have you come in so they could go over the results with you.

I wouldn’t get bunched up about it right now. If they call and want to move the appointment up with the words “right away” then you might want to worry.

Hello Cindy,

No one here can tell you whether the reason your doctor wants to see you is serious or not but if he/she is not asking to see you immediately it is very possible that it is not life threatening.

If it is concerning the tumour you never know it could be good news.

Perhaps the tumour is shrinking or still dormant or after 16 years medical advances have been phenomenal and there may be something that can be done to help you which was not available all those years ago.

Try to look on the bright side and try not to worry about problems that may not be actually exist.

Good luck.

I’ve had CAT scans and MRI’s and they want you to come in to discuss the results, no matter what the results are, because they can get another payment for an office visit from your insurance company. I’ve had the same thing, where I was very nervous because they wanted to see me, and I found out that I was nervous for nothing, because all it was was that the doctor wanted to let me know everything was fine. Could he have told me that over the phone? Yes, but then he couldn’t bill the insurance company for a visit.

Please don’t let the fact that they called you to make an appt just 4 hours after doing the MRI cause you to worry. I’ve had at least 12 MRIs and probably 8–10 CT scans and have gotten my results within 1–3 days each time, sometimes the same day.

It’s quite possible that the radiologist happened to be close by, or was even reading other scans and yours was next.

Just because you get results fast due to efficiency doesn’t mean it’s bad news. It simply does not take that long. It takes them maybe an hour to read it, then they dictate, then have it sent to the ordering physician. And I’ve gotten results by phone, also, so no, not everyone is out to get “another visit” out of you.

I believe the reason the call came so soon was because your doctor intended to see you no matter the results, but wanted to make sure the MRI was actually done before scheduling.

Let us know what happens.

Keep in mind this doctor has nothing to compare to since he doesn’t have your old scans. Are you sure you can’t get your old scan from either your doctor or the diagnostic center? How long ago was it done? Most doctors and diagnostic center keep records beyond the requirement of the law.

If your doctor wants to do anything radical get a second opinion. You basically know he will see something on the scan, he will at least see what you know is already there.

The lady that calls to schedule the appointment never knows why the doctor wants to see you. I’m totally guessing that it’s because you are a new patient with NO records since you were 12 & the doctor feels that she will get a better read of/from you in person. You are a new patient & your medical history is almost nonexistent, so face to face makes sense to me. Your dr may feel that she can give you a more professional diagnosis with so little with which to work.

I doubt that any results were back within 4 hours & she’s set your appointment out far enough that it doesn’t sound like a critical need. Having said that, anytime I have to deal with a doctor it makes me nervous, but I don’t feel you should stress yourself out until you can talk to your doctor…Maybe it will be good news!!!

If you’re available other days, you can always call up and ask if they have anything sooner. Another tactic is you can tell them that if someone cancels, you are available to go in that person’s spot.