ct scan findings are freaking me out?

Question

So I had an appendectomy 8 days ago. Two days ago I experienced some really bad right side pain in the lower rib area. ( during the day I feel fine, at night it starts to hurt) so I went to the ER. They took blood, ekg, xray, and ct scan with contrast. They sent me home saying pleurisy. However, I have online access to my medical records so I looked up my test results. ( health anxiety) it says in the findings..........
FINDING(S): The contrast bolus is less than optimal and motion artifact mildly degrades image quality.. However, known central main or lobar pulmonary emboli are identified with attention to the right lower lobe. Smaller nonocclusive segmental and 
subsegmental emboli are not excluded. The aorta demonstrates no sign of dissection, aneurysm or other acute pathology. The heart size is within normal limits without a pericardial effusion. There is no pathologic mediastinal or hilar adenopathy or mass.

So this says that there are identified blood clots and others can't be excluded.

The "impressions" says no blood clots were seen!

So now I am freaking out. Do I have blood clots or not. You can die from these and if they aren't sure why did they send me home? I contacted the hospital and all they said was follow up with my Doctor. Any opinions?

? · Accepted Answer

Radiologists almost all use voice recoginition software now. Confusing "no" and "known" is a common error and one which can be easily missed on review. Get someone to check with the radiologist, we all make mistakes, and voice recognition errors like this are very easy to do.

L &lt;3 · Answer

First of all - relax! Take a deep breath.
I know it's so easy to get worked up over medical scans and tests and results, especially when you're in pain, but remember - qualified doctors and radiologists will have looked at all of your test results, and if there was anything sinister, they legally would have to tell you.

When you're not qualified, it's easy to get confused about what things mean. (I bet you had to look up what the results meant before you even knew they were talking about blood clots!) Sometimes some types of scans show things better or differently, which is why they do different tests together. What may show up on one scan may be ruled out by another.

If the impressions showed no blood clots, then there are no blood clots. The doctors couldn't risk sending you home if there was a chance that you had any, so the fact that they send you home means that you have no reason to worry.

I hope you feel better soon :)

(P.S. - A bit of advice for the future - if the doctor says you're okay, don't go looking at your results online. It's far too easy to confuse and scare yourself!)

? · Answer

As already pointed out, this is most likely a typo. You are in your right to immediately call your doctor and demand clarification of the report. Alternatively, go to the hospital unit that did the CT scan and ask for clarification; ordinarily radiologists will be willing to review the films.

Diane A · Answer

You have two options: 1. go back to the ER and they will access your results and TALK to the doc  2. Get an ASAP appointment with your doc and talk to him.  It really impossible for us to second guess the CT results from here.

John de Witt · Answer

Looks like a typo, where they were trying to say "NO known central main or lobar pulmonary emboli."  That's what you get for reading your report. This recent popularity of giving people their reports is wrong-headed.

? · Answer

I think you are a hypochondriac.  Don't try to diagnose yourself.

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ct scan findings are freaking me out?

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