got mri report any help would be appreciated

Daisy,

Simple cysts are unlikely to turn into RCC while a complex cyst may turn malignant as it grows if it grows. What exacty yours is, is above my paygrade. There may not be a yes or no answer to whether yours is malignant. See what your doctor says and seek a second opinion if you are not 100% sure and confidant in his approach.

Icemantoo

medic1971 said:

My 2 pennies...

You have two different diagnostic images possibly read by two separate radiologists.  Were your films ready by different radiologists?  I've learned that you can have two radiologists look at the same film and get different results, so just keep that in mind.

The size difference between the two studies maybe due how thin the slices were during the scan.  This is not uncommon.  I suspect that the MRI measurements are more accurate.  They will know for sure when and if they do pathology.

I think it's your chances for this not being cancer have gone up slightly, but I think your chances of having a partial nephrectomy have gone down due to it's location nearing the renal pelvis.  

If I were in your shoes I would find the nearest major cancer hospital and get a second opinion.  I would hate for you to lose an entire kidney just to find out that this is a complex cyst.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.  

 

Jason 

I agree with Jason about the 2nd opinion.  But the reverse side of his other comment is that if you ignore it and it is a cyst that could turn malignant, you certainly don't wand it hanging around in there.  The encapsulated part sounds great.  The size of the "??" is even better.

If you can find a surgical oncologist who specializes in kidney cancers, it would be great.  They have more experience looking at test results-US, CT, MRI- and what they turn out to be upon removal and biopsy, than the average surgeon.

And, as you and others before you have found, once you start having all those black and white or colored pictures to look at, there will be cysts and odd spots in lots of organs.  Those will be watched for a few more tests and then determined to be benign.  I have them in the remaining kidney, the pancreas, and what is left of my liver.

Guess you received a few answers to encourage you to seek and find an answer that is right for you.  You go, girl.

Hugs, Donna

daisybud said:

I am going this Tuesday to

I am going this Tuesday to the urologist.  I will def keep that appt.  He is a urologist but I do know he is works out of the local hospital that is partnered with Fox Chase.  They have a Fox Chase Cancer outpatient center here. I did ask the lady who answered the phone when I called his office if he took care of kidney cancer patients or if I should find someone else.  She said he did.  We shall see... After the Tuesday appt I will be armed with more answers and probably more question too.. At least I sure as H*ll hope so..   Then I will have to decide who to see for a second opinion..  Thanks for all the info and feed back..  Again you guys are great! Love to all of you

Kim

The smart choice is to remove the lesions. Even if you have to lose a kidney. But not necessarily now. Get scans every couple or 3months. If there are negative changes, have it removed. If it remains the same, it may have been there for a long time. Many of us have cysts somewhere. The radiologists' always mention them. They get closely watched.

daisybud said:

Fox,
The only reason I would

Fox,

The only reason I would want to do it now is because the MRI report said possible complex cystic malignancy. Just the mention of it makes me want to get it out now.  I know it was not there in 2011 bc I had a ct scan for possible gallbadder issue.  I have to just sit tight till dr appt next week. 

By the way I live 45 min north of Phila.  I don't know where everyone else lives but if you live on the northeast stay safe and warm.  We are expected a blizzard like snow storm!

Kim

....if it were me I'd want it out too, given all the circumstances.  The size difference between CT, MRI, US doesn't mean much, we're talking millimeters in difference.  The things that are red flags to me is the mention of enhanced capsulation.  I also had mention of that on my reports and since I was working in a hospital at the time, showed this to doctors I worked side by side with, (none being uro-onc docs by the way) and they all said the same thing, get rid of it.  As did my uro-onc doctor when I saw him.  I was lucky, "Bob the Blob" was still encapsulated when I had my surgery but just barely I was told.

Looking forward to hearing what your uro doc has to say, keep us posted.

Praying for you,

Donna~

I had an MRI before my surgery and it measured my tumor larger thsn it actually was after my nephretomy. I was very happy about that! Sending good vibes your way for an informative doctor visit. Hopefully all your questions will be answered. Keep us posted. We are here for you...Panda

I don't think the scans are that much different. "Lesion" is a very vague term. The MRI says it's not typical of a "simple" cyst or "simple" rcc malignancy. RCC has several different types. I'm not sure what they mean by "simple" RCC. When I had my CT, my doctor, who specializes in kidney masses, said that from imaging alone it's not really possible to tell what most of these are. However, when it's large 90% of them are cancer. Yours is on the small size for an RCC tumor, but on the large size for a cyst. They probably are not going to know what it is until they can get it out and look at it under a microscope. Because these things are not uniform, they don't usually do biopsies to figure out what they are either (you only get to see where you sample, and you can't take enough samples to really get a thorough reading). These masses are often not uniform. You can even have different kinds of RCC in the same mass.

The only thing that bugs me about these two reports is one says it's "midpole" and the other says it's upper pole. Perhaps the first meant mid, upper pole? You want it away from the center of the kidney, where all the blood supply flows in and out. You have a better chance of being able to do a partial that way.

BTW, it says no vascular involvement on the scans, but I can tell you from experience they won't know that until they get it under a miscroscope either. I hope it's the case for you. The further from the blood supply, the more likely there is no vascular involvement, the better.

You may end up having 2 options? Wait and watch to see if it grows. (If it was in the middle of the kidney near the blood supply, I wouldn't do that myself, but see what your doctors say). Take it out and find out what it is. Best would be if they can do a partial if they can get clear margins. I wouldn't want a partial unless clear margins were easy to get. My tumor was in the middle of my kidney, and for that reason I couldn't have a partial. It was too much in the middle of all the blood supply lines come in and out.

My doctors did no MRI and no biopsies. However, my tumor was a lot larger than yours (around 5-7cm, I forget exactly). If they want to do biopsies, I'd ask to see what they hope to gain by it. A positive biopsy (say for RCC) would tell you something. However, a negative biopsy would add no information with regards to cancer.

Please let us know how it goes. I'm sending you positive energy.

Hugs,

Todd