Do tumors show up on X-rays? Why or why not?
When you get a regular photograph, what you see is an image of how the light rays bounced off the subject and back to the lens of the camera, where it could enter to make an image on the digital sensor (or film, if you’re old school).An x-ray works differently. X-rays go through most materials, but they do so with differing degrees depending on the material. The rays then strike the film or digital sensor and make the x-ray image. What we are looking at is actually a negative image, so the things that the x-rays don’t go through well look white, and the things that they penetrate well look black.X-rays have 5 basic levels at which they can penetrate materials. In increasing order they are:Air or other gasFatWaterBoneMetalAn x-ray is interpreted by looking at what is light and what is dark, and seeing of those patterns look like what we expect them to look like. This is a normal looking chest X-ray.The brightest (whitest) structures are bones. The next brightest are the things with water in them. This includes most of your soft tissues. The oval shaped thing in the middle is the heart, and the strands coming off the middle are blood vessels. The lungs are mostly air, so they look black. All is well with this film.Not so with this one:I think you can easily notice the white area on the left side of the image (which is the patient’s right side). That’s an area of soft tissue/water where there isn’t supposed to be one.X-rays are better at finding tumors in some places of the body than others. But when we see them, it is because of findings like this, where tissue shows up in ways it isn’t supposed to.
I have a lump on my shin bone, what should I do?
Not to overlook the obvious, I just want to verify that you are not indeed talking about your tibial tuberosity. This is the lump that’s supposed to be there (the only one). It is where the infra-patellar tendon (which transfers the force generated by your quadraceps muscle when you straighten your leg) attaches. Sometimes this can become inflamed which is referred to as Osgood-Schlatter disease. It is tender (or even painful) in this case - which is not what you are describing. Nevertheless, the tibial tuberosity is located a few inches below the bottom of the patella (knee-cap). On the attached photo, it is just at the level of the “L”.The other common cause of lumps on the tibia is from an old injury - maybe one you had years ago where you had a hematoma which may have scarred and calcified over time.A very rare cause of a lump on the tibia is a bone tumor (osteosarcoma, Ewings tumor, lymphoma or a few others). If the lump is non-tender and fixed to the underlying bone, it is in the realm of possibility, in which case you should show it to your doctor for evaluation.If you are interested in “No Nonsense” answers to serious medical questions, please follow me. (>200 answers on cancer, medicine and human behavior.)
Bump on my shin bone?
m 17 and I have had a lump on my shin bone for probably a few years now. It hurts when I run which is why I finally decided to tell my doctor. He sent me to get ab X-ray and it came out clear so I have to go to a orthopedic. I'm wondering if it's not a tumor, what is it?
Is a shadow on a hip x-ray definately bone cancer? Can it be wrong?
My mum has had a hip x-ray done and it shows a shadow. The dr said it is probably secondary bone disease. She's having another x-ray next Thursday and an MRI done then (if not before). She's had no symptoms except hip and back pain, but this pain has come and gone, although it is bad at the moment (hence asking for an x-ray). I just can't believe it is cancer with no other symptoms, especially if the primary cancer is somewhere else. She's had no weight loss or tiredness. Can the shadow be something else? Can the x-ray be wrong?
Dark spot on bone in xray?
It may depend on your company's policy. However, if your company meets certain guidelines and you do too (employed there 12+ months, worked over a certain amount of hours in the past 12 months, etc) then you may be eligible for this time under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which your employer MUST tell you about if eligible, and your condition DOES meet the requirements as far as what sort of treatment/situations are allowed. Please see http://www.las-elc.org/DV_FMLA.html I had to use FMLA to care for my bipolar daughter. If you meet the criteria, your employer must accept it. First, though, check your company's sick time policy - my last employer had it set that if you needed to go to a doctor for something that was NOT available outside of work hours, they had to let you take it as sick time. Good luck! I'm sure it's all scary, but try to work on calming yourself down - stressing out isn't good for your health and may make things worse.
Spot of concern in bone on x-ray?
I don't know about your specific case, but you should take it easy. I Xrays are great about showing the structure of the body. however, they are somewhat technique dependant in that photopenic (dark areas) may seem enhanced or supressed depending on the tech performing the exam. It could be a spot of arthritis. Additionally, it could be a greenstick fracture (I hope I used the correct term) caused by and incomplete fracture in the bone from compression or twisting motions at the ankle. Lastly, it could be osteoporosis (failure of the body to store calcium in bone) and you might have tweeked the ankle a bit. It sounds like you are pretty young, and if there is no family history or personal history of cancer, it seems unlikely that this would be the case. Metastatic cancer typically stays in the axial skeleton (chest, ribs, back, femur and humerus) unless it comes from malignant melanoma, which you would probably know by now. If you are still freaked, call your ortho and have him let you know what is going on over the phone. Relax and breath, it is probably something of little concern;)