MRI Of Liver With Contrast

[MarkyMark88]

Last week I discovered the whites of my eyes were a tint of yellow. After a bunch of blood tests it was found that on my liver panel that the total protein and albumin were a bit high along with my direct bilirubin. Total bilirubin and reticulocyte counts was the most out of whack, but everything is steady. So my doctor had me get an ultrasound of my liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. All looked normal but the radiologist suggested I get an MRI of my liver with them injecting a dye into my blood. I have never gotten an MRI before. And the fact that it is of a major organ that may not be properly functioning is scaring me. Idk what they might be looking for that would not be considered sinister.



Has anybody ever had a liver MRI before? I'm not sure what to expect.



I should also mention that I am seeing a hematologist in a couple of weeks for the same problem. At first my red blood cell count was low, but has since gone back to a normal range, but now certain white blood cell counts have dropped a bit out of the normal range; Monocytes, Absolute monocytes. Seg Neutrophils were a bit elevated. These all changed within the span of about four days.


Worried and panicked to say the least

[BikerMatt]

Hi MarkyMark, I had an MRI of my liver with contrast in March. I also had an MRCP at the same time so it took just under an hour. I think the liver part of the MRI was about 20mins, so not to bad. It's also a different contrast that they use for a CT scan as that stuff makes you feel like you've wet yourself. Some of the newer MRI machines are a wider bore which makes it less claustrophobic.

Hope that helps.

[MarkyMark88]

It does, thank you. I'm just wondering what they might be looking for if an ultrasound wasn't helpful enough. No structural damage, just incidental finds of benign hemangiomas and a few gallstones. What ELSE is there to look for? I know I'm catastrophizing, but then again that's why I'm here lol.

[BikerMatt]

If you have gallstones they might be checking your bile ducts from your liver to your gallbladder and your gallbladder to your small intestine. That's what the MRCP part of my MRI was for but many places just use the standard MRI.

[MarkyMark88]

Perhaps. They told me the gallstones were incidental finds. Had I not had the ultrasound I would never have known I had them and weren't causing a problem. But thank you for the response and helpful info for me going ahead. I'm trying to take everything step by step. It would be nice for the hematologist to find the problem before having to go in for the MRI.

[MarkyMark88]

Had my MRI with contrast yesterday. Hated it lol. But now I'm waiting for results and am driving myself mad. They said I'd possibly get the results back last night but never did. Now I'm worried that I haven't gotten them back yet they maybe found something. Idk. How long to MRI scans usually take to get back? You think if it was nothing it would be an easy look by the radiologist.

---------- Post added at 13:21 ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 ----------

Happy to say that everything came back fine with the MRI and no follow ups are needed. My spleen is enlarged and that is something I will have to bring up with the hematologist next week during a follow up to go over all of my blood tests (12 to be exact). I still don't know what is going on but at least I can say my liver, pancreas, gallbladder and kidneys are healthy.

[BikerMatt]

Pleased for you Mark

I knew it wouldn't be to long a wait for you being in the States. Results within a day, you don't want to know the wait times for scan pics to be looked at over here.