Can a CT scan miss bowel cancer diagnosis?

FormerMember over 5 years ago

5 replies
127 subscribers
3211 views

Hello there,

First of all, a huge thank you to this community, and respect for those fighting this horrible disease. My grandmother passed away from it earlier this year, so it's a disease I'm unfortunately familiar with.

I just had a few worries regarding some tests/symptoms my mum has had. She has had a consistent pain and bloat in her stomach for over the last month, and has since had a whole bunch of different tests.(no bleeding etc, odd bouts of diarhhea but nothing significant), it's just this killer bloat and uncomfortableness that no-one can seem to explain. Few trips to A&E, she has kidney stones too, and is diabetic so a lot of issues unfortunately.

Of course one concern due to her age (55) is bowel cancer.

She finally had a CT scan after the doctors just couldn't get to the bottom of her bloating (she had all sorts of tests, internal ultrasound, blood tests, the stool test, ovarian cancer tests etc).

The CT scan was clear which was a huge relief, but unfortunately she still has this persistent bloat that really is affecting her quality of life at the moment.

A visit to the GP resulted in him referring her for a colonoscopy, but I was confused, as the CT scan was all clear. Is it possible for the CT scan to miss any potential cancer that may be causing her symptoms? He didn't order it for suspected cancer but more as a screening and routine test. I had always thought CT scans were accurate when it came to detecting cancer, but how accurate is it for diagnosing bowel cancer? My biggest worry is that the colonscopy will detect something the CT scanned missed. Does anyone know anything more about the accuracy of CT scans for diagnosing cancer?

Thanks for reading!

court over 5 years ago

Hi ,

Sorry you have concerns about your mum . Most people would have a colonoscopy to check the Bowel out as some tumours can be difficult to detect but I must say most would be picked up by the CT scan so try not to worry too much .

All the best with her colonoscopy,

Court

Helpline Number 0808 808 0000

stephenhat over 5 years ago

Hi there,

Can I ask was the ct scan of the abdomen and pelvis?

FormerMember over 5 years ago in reply to stephenhat

Hi Stephen, thanks for your message.

I think the CT scan was of all the abdomen, bowel and stomach area, and on the copy of the results received the bowel was examined. The findings said

'The bowel appeared grossly unremarkable'...which sounds like a good thing? Not sure of terms and everything. Is this a good sign things are all clear down there?

Again my worry is the CT scan didn't pick up ay potential cancer that the colonscopy may do. Would a CT scan be accurate in diagnosing this bowel cancer and based on the findings, do you think we can be confident it's all clear?

Thanks

stephenhat over 5 years ago in reply to FormerMember

Hi there

I wish I could give you reassurance that we would all want.

i have had ultrasound,mri, ct abdomen and pelvis with contrast twice, and been told by the colorectal surgeon, that if I had anything that was big enough to cause me the pain I’m getting then it would have shown up on the scans... which kind of made sense to me ... I’ve been suffering with headaches,lower back and sciatic kind of pain for sometime which has been getting worse.

I’m pushing for a colonoscopy- a bit like unblocking a drain ,it should show blockages, which I understand is the test that will tell you one way or the other.....I had one done about 6 years ago.. it’s not so bad, taking the laxatives and emptying the bowel the night is worse... but it’s a means to an end and the sooner the better.

The scans are obviously less invasive than the colonoscopy and there’s very little risk, and that’s why they do these first.

I’m no doctor,but I think The only way your going to be totally confident it’s all clear is after the colonoscopy.

I’ve had stage 3 cancer before and initially thought the worst at first, but now I think I’m going to fight in every way possible to stay alive and if it thinks it’s going to take me it’s got a fight on its hands because I’m not going to go quietly into the night , I’ll be kicking and screaming all the way

Plymgirl over 5 years ago

Hi there, it sounds as if they are taking your mum's symptoms seriously and that's good and once she's had a colonoscopy you'll hopefully get a better idea of why she has bloating and other symptons.vanessa x

Plymgirl