Do ultrasound techs miss stuff?

[cgregurich]

So earlier this year I felt a small tiny bump on my left testicle. I got it checked by the doctor and she said she didn’t think it was anything, but prefers an ultrasound anyways. The next day I go in for it and.... the ultrasound tech couldn’t find it. Not with the machine or by hand. She asked me to point it out and I couldn’t find it either. Ok... not exactly comforting but not particularly scary either. So I didn’t really get a “all clear” but it disappeared so whatever? Well I have anxiety about it, and I’ve been able to find it again. Now I know there’s a lot of lumps and bumps people get on their balls, but I don’t want to assume it’s skmething harmless without good reason. I ended up going to the doctor again for a completely unrelated thing (blood test for diet related things) and had her check again. She said she didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. Now like I said, I’ve been able to find it, I can find it right now. It’s on the upper backish side of my left testicle. It’s not painful, but if I prod/pinch it it will hurt like I got hit in the nuts.

Another thing that I don’t know if it’s related or not is I lift, and my doctor said I need to chill with the heavy lifting because essentially on my left side she said she felt a weakness (like hernia related; I had a right side hernia in 1st grade). And I definitely can feel that weakness occasionally, not sure if it’s relegated to this testicle thing


But anyways, if it WAS cancer, surely the ultrasound wouldn’t have missed it? And it surely wouldn’t have been there, then disappeared, now is back? Just like that? Like I don’t get it.
I’m 19 M 190lbs 6’3”, USA.

[Rb82923]

Ultrasounds seem to be pretty reliable. I mean think about how much we learn about babies in the womb. However, I'm sure there is always a chance of missing something as ultrasound techs are human. It's interesting to me that the lump comes and goes. A tumor would not just disappear. Have you researched anything else it could be? Maybe a cyst or gland or something? Im a female so I'm not an expert on the make anatomy but I do have anxiety and know how scary and frustrating things can be. I would continue to to monitor it and take note of where/when you feel it. Maybe even get a second opinion just to ease your mind.

[unicorndusy]

Although I'm female, I hope I can help somewhat with your worry about ultrasounds missing things. I had one not long ago on my leg due to a lump that turned out just to be a muscle hernia. It disappears when my leg is relaxed but if I am standing up and raising my leg it will appear. So when I was laying down on the chair having the ultrasound done, the tech couldn't find it until I raised my foot upwards. Still, he could not find it. Eventually, he just used the doppler to try and find it and EVENTUALLY it appeared on the screen. I asked him about ultrasounds missing things and he told me that if something is serious then 99 times out of 100 it will show up straight away. I feel that your lump is nothing serious as it would be getting a lot bigger and it would be there all the time if it was a tumor or anything like that. :winks: