My name is Lucy Whiteman.
I'm a lymphoma clinical nurse specialist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
So, scans and results of biopsies always take a little bit of time to get the results.
They need to be looked at by a specialist who specialises in lymphoma
so that we are clear on the diagnosis.
Any scans that you have for check-ups or follow-ups or during treatment,
they also need to be analyzed by a specialist radiologist to make sure that we compare
them with previous scans and we get the accurate result for you
The person who's actually taking the scan is not able to give the results or
read the results. These scans need to be looked at by a specialist radiologist
who will then write a report so the results will take a day or two
and usually we need to discuss this in a multidisciplinary meeting so we can look
at the tissue and the scans together and come up with a plan a diagnosis and then
a plan of the best treatment
If we get a result quickly, it doesn't mean that that's bad news or if it takes
a long time it doesn't mean that it's necessarily bad news. It just means that
we need more information and more time to look at some results than others.
If we feel that things are getting worse and you're more symptomatic then we will
start the treatment sooner if we need to. It's very important that you get in touch
with your key worker or your clinical team at your hospital if you
feel that your symptoms are getting worse. Obviously, if we feel that we would
jeopardize anything by not treating you sooner then we would start treatment
sooner, but it is important to wait for these results if at all possible.
Sometimes you will be asked to come back for another repeat of the scan or a
different type of scan if we haven't got all of the information we needed the
first time or if we need another type of scan to give us more clearer information.
Sometimes people do need to have another biopsy if they've taken one
piece of tissue and it's not quite a good enough sample, it's not a big enough
sample. This does happen and it is quite normal for that to happen because they
want to get the best information that we can about the type of lymphoma that you have.
You'll then be asked to come along to a clinic and you'll see
a doctor and often a clinical nurse specialist and we'll talk through with
you the results and what they mean it's very important that that's done in a
face-to-face situation so that you can ask questions and we can explain clearly
all of the results. It's often helpful to bring somebody with you because it's
quite a lot of information to take in just for one person. These results are
not given over the phone. It's not a good idea to deliver that information
over the phone. It's very important that we see the patient face-to-face and
explain what this means and what the plan is.
The hospital that you're being treated at and the key worker the nurse
specialist or one of the medical team should be able to give you an idea when
they book the tests for you when you're likely to get the results and usually
they'll book you into clinic in a matter of a few weeks or less depending
on when they think the results will be available. If you have any questions
about that you should always contact them to ask.