Before your consult
Should You Look Up Your Results — Before the Consult?
Most people search their scan results before seeing the doctor. The question is not whether you will — you probably will — but whether you do it in a way that helps, or in a way that leaves you more frightened than before.
Medically reviewed by Dr. T. Raghavender Reddy, Medical Oncologist, MBBS · DM (Medical Oncology) · MD (Radiation Oncology) · Last reviewed September 2026
- You will search anyway — Most people do. The goal is to search usefully, not to avoid it entirely.
- Reports are written for doctors — The language is precise and cautious by professional convention. It will alarm you if you do not know the conventions.
- Search terms, not conclusions — Individual words can be looked up safely. The summary sentence usually cannot.
- Questions are the output — The point of searching is to arrive at your appointment with a question, not an answer.
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Most people search their scan results before seeing the doctor. The question is not whether to search but how. Scan reports are written for doctors, and the language will alarm you unless you understand it. Search individual terms rather than the summary, write your questions down, and bring them to the appointment.
How do you look at scan results without making things worse?
Read the report once, straight through
Get the full picture before stopping to search anything. Pausing at every unfamiliar word before you finish means you fill in the gaps with your worst fears.
Look up terms, not the summary
Search individual words — what does 'mediastinal' mean, what does 'hypermetabolic' mean — rather than copying the conclusion into a search bar. The summary combines several clinical judgements that a search engine cannot separate.
Use named sources only
Stick to sources that name themselves: ASCO's patient pages, Cancer Research UK, NCCN patient guides, or ICMR publications. If you cannot tell who wrote what you are reading, close that tab.
Set a time limit before you start
Decide in advance how long you will search. When the time is up, write your questions down and stop. Without a limit, the same frightening information cycles back in different forms for hours.
Write your questions down, then close the browser
The questions are the point. The search is only a way to find them. You need the questions at your appointment — you do not need anything else.
Why do scan reports sound so frightening?
Radiology reports are written for referring doctors, not for patients. The language is precise and cautious by professional convention, not to communicate bad news directly to you.
Words like 'lesion', 'mass', 'opacity', and 'uptake' are descriptive terms. They describe what the scanner detected. What that means for you is a clinical judgement your oncologist makes after looking at the full picture — not something the report settles on its own.
Phrases like 'cannot exclude malignancy' are professional hedging. The radiologist is saying the image alone is not enough to rule something out. It is an instruction to investigate further, not a diagnosis. The most alarming sentence in a report is often the one your oncologist considers most routine.
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What should you bring to your appointment?
- The exact words or phrases that frightened you most, written down
- One or two specific questions — not a list of twenty
- The sources you read and what they said, so your team can correct any misreading
- Questions from family members who could not come with you
- A way to write down the answers — a notebook or your phone
Why does the wait between getting the result and the appointment feel so hard?
The gap between receiving a scan result and speaking to your oncologist is, for most people, the hardest stretch of the entire cancer experience. You have information you do not yet have the context to understand, and no way to move forward until you do.
You are not waiting for the result. You already have it. You are waiting for someone who can tell you what it means — and that is a different and harder kind of waiting.
If searching helps because doing something is easier than sitting with the uncertainty, search. Use the steps above, then close the browser. If searching is making things worse, write down the one thing you most want to ask, put the phone down, and wait. You will have your answer soon.
What do the words in my scan report actually mean?
Lesion
'Lesion' is the standard medical word for an area that looks different from surrounding tissue on a scan. It is a descriptive term, not a diagnosis. A lesion can be a cyst, a scar, an inflamed gland, a benign growth, or something that needs investigation. The word was not chosen to signal severity — radiologists use it for everything from an old healed injury to an area that needs a biopsy. Your oncologist will tell you what it represents in your case.
Cannot exclude malignancy
This phrase frightens almost everyone who reads it, and it almost never means what it sounds like. It is a professional and legal convention meaning: the image alone is not sufficient to rule this out. The radiologist is instructing the referring doctor to investigate further — not stating that cancer is present or likely. Your oncologist will tell you what investigation, if any, follows from this finding. In many cases the answer is reassuring.
Interval change
'Interval change' means something looks different compared to a previous scan. It can mean bigger, smaller, or structurally changed. The phrase itself tells you nothing about whether the change is good or bad — that requires your oncologist to read both scans together in the context of your treatment and history. A tumour shrinking in response to treatment shows interval change. So does one that has grown. Context decides which.
Findings versus Impression
Most radiology reports have two sections. Findings describe exactly what the radiologist observed. Impression is their interpretation — what they think the Findings most likely represent, and what they are flagging for the referring doctor. If the Impression seems less alarming than some of the Findings, that usually means the radiologist judged those findings as less significant than they appear in isolation. Your oncologist reads both sections and decides what to act on.
Hypermetabolic activity (PET scan)
On a PET scan, 'hypermetabolic' means an area is using more glucose than the surrounding tissue. Active cancer cells do this — but so do inflamed tissue, healing wounds, and active infections. A hypermetabolic finding is a signal that needs clinical interpretation alongside your other results and history, not a standalone diagnosis. Your oncologist will explain what it means in the context of your specific case.
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- Recurring Scanxiety in Long-Term Surveillance
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- Explaining a Parent's Scan to Children
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Your next step
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Common questions
Frequently asked questions
My report says 'cannot exclude malignancy'. Does that mean I have cancer?
No, it does not. 'Cannot exclude malignancy' is a standard radiology phrase meaning the image alone is not enough to rule out a possibility. It is a prompt for further investigation, not a diagnosis. Radiologists use this wording as a professional convention to ensure the referring doctor acts — not to signal that cancer is likely. Your oncologist will interpret it alongside your full history, symptoms, and other results, and that interpretation is often very different from what the phrase sounds like on its own.
The findings and impression in my report seem to say different things. Which one should I read?
Both, and they are not contradicting each other. Findings describe what the radiologist observed. Impression is their interpretation of what matters most clinically. If the Impression seems less alarming than some of the Findings, that is usually because the radiologist judged those findings as less clinically significant than they appear in isolation. Your oncologist reads both sections and will tell you which findings they are acting on and why. Bring both sections to your appointment.
I found a survival rate for my cancer type online. Should I take it seriously?
Be cautious about applying it to yourself. Population statistics describe what happened across large groups of people with a given diagnosis — often treated years ago under different protocols, at different stages, with different tumour profiles. They do not describe what is likely for you specifically, because your age, fitness, tumour biology, treatment choice, and how you respond all alter the picture considerably. Ask your oncologist directly what they expect from your treatment and on what basis. That answer is more useful than any figure found online.
My family says I should not Google my results. Are they right?
They are trying to protect you, and that impulse is right even if the instruction is hard to follow. The risk is not searching itself — it is searching without the tools to interpret what you find. Radiology language is designed for doctors, and a phrase that sounds catastrophic to you may be routine to your oncologist. If you are going to search, use the approach above: look up individual terms, use named medical sources, set a time limit, and write down your questions. That is different from reading forums and arriving at your own diagnosis.
Is there someone I can speak to before my appointment?
Ask your oncology team whether a psycho-oncology counsellor or oncology nurse specialist is available to speak with before your next appointment. This is a legitimate clinical request — the waiting period is one of the hardest parts of the cancer experience, and oncology teams expect patients to need support during it. If your distress feels severe, or if you are having thoughts of harming yourself, contact iCall (a national psychosocial helpline run by TISS) or go to your nearest emergency department. You do not have to manage this alone until the appointment.