A question about cancer terminology...?!
Question: I recently had a liver ultrasound done and it said there was no lesion or focal lesion present.. I remember my friend from med school telling me that a lesion present means it's a tumor...is that what the word "lesion" stands for?
Answers: I recently had a liver ultrasound done and it said there was no lesion or focal lesion present.. I remember my friend from med school telling me that a lesion present means it's a tumor...is that what the word "lesion" stands for?
A lesion is a localised area of diseased or disordered tissue. If the facility reported that there is no such item present, I would conclude that the information is a very positive sign.
Dr. James Jeah MD
a lesion is abnormal tissue, not necessarily a tumor, but of course can be.
Usually lesion means a mass of some sort. Either way, it's a good thing that nothing was found.
no, it can means very different things, they must take biopsy to know if it is tumor
In the medical context, the word "lesion" refers to just about any abnormality that can be observed. A scar, a cut on the skin, a wart, a polyp - all are lesions. Often it is used as shorthand to avoid having to always say "cancerous lesions", "metastatic lesions", "lesions that look like neoplasms" and the like.
In the specific context of a liver ultrasound, it is reasonable for you to assume that "lesion' mainly refers to tumors (a word that only means "swelling" in its original use), but it can also mean scarring, abcesses, concentrations of parasites or any other anomaly that can be seen on a sonogram.