MRI Incidental finding ...... Terrified me ..Opacified Sphenoid Sinus

Thank you, means a lot to have this support...

HI guys, I'm a mess and have been for a month now.
I got an MRI done to check out why I have slightly loss of hearing in my left ear, turns out there is no reason, i just have it - according to the MRI but it found opaque sinuses. so need to get a CT scan, which found a mild bony expansion near my sphenoid sinus and now the ENT wants me to get a skull base MRI to rule out anything sinister. He has said that the radiologist and he both agree there is nothing sinister looking about it and it's not cancer, but to get a clear diagnosis I'd need to do another MRI. Seriously?!
Why can't they just tell?
I feel sick to my stomach, worried i'm dying from a skull base tumour and I can't cope, and then on top of that to have to wait to get the MRI results again - I dont think I've survive and then what if they find another 'Incidental FINDING!' I feel like it could go on forever and all this time i could be fine but I feel like I"m dying..... can anyone help me here ... I can't stop crying, I"m not living my life properly as I feel like something bad is going on inside my head - this is absolutely HORRIBLE.
I"m never EVER going to get another test done after all of this. I really pray it's all ok and just an 'incidental finding' of little to no issues......


Anyone else been through this?!

I haven't had what you have but when I had an ultrasound of kidneys etc, the sonographer found an angiomyolimpoma on my left kidney. She said it was likely benign and to have a follow up in 6 months time which I did and it was the same size. This was 12 years ago and it's never caused me any symptoms. Drs like to monitor these growths because occasionally they can grow quite big and require an operation.

Thank you, - I've had a MRI and now a CT and now they want to do an MRI again, I'm thinking - surely they must be able to tell what it is now!

These sensitive scans pick up loads of incidental findings which would never have been discovered or needed to be discovered. It's a real consequence of scanning and I'm sorry that you're going through this, Tan. I had a similar thing a year ago and of course it's worse when you have HA.

It does make you decide never to push for scans unless there is a real clinical need though.

I hope you get a definitive diagnosis very soon although it might just be "one of those things" and what you were born with.

If your Dr was concerned he would send you for a PET scan so know need to worry.

Maybe they will ask for that NEXT!!!!!!!!

Oh hey! Something I know about.

I had a sphenoid mucocele that required surgery. It was no big deal. Doctors usually want to get them out because they can grow and press on your optic nerve. They are benign and are made up of essentially mucus that doesn’t drain properly. Sometimes the sphenoid sinus doesn’t develop properly and it can look opacified. Did they order a contrast in any of your scans? CT is the preferred image for sinuses. The surgery was painless and they went through my nose to drain the mucocele.

I know now what you mean about incidental findings. My last brain MRI found a “tumor” that wasn’t a tumor at all, just a denser than usual pituitary gland. They can sometimes develop benign tumors but follow up labs determined mine was fine, just a variant. I had a spine MRI that found a hemangioma- another common and benign thing. Very scary to find all these “tumors” but the reality is that they are nothing significant. Just a reminder that if you go looking, you’re going to find something.

I know! Thank you - Yes i had a CT scan, and it was a bony mass which they think I may have had since I was born .... so I have to have another MRI of that area!! So frustrating, it's tomorrow ...... but thank you so much!!!

I thought I'd respond to this one too - apparently I've had it since birth so it was completely normal!