A Welcome to OCF from me as well.
I have only ever had biopsies from my first visit to oral surgeon in 2006 to now. (No CT/PET.) I remember having to wait for at least a week before I got the result. Phone call while I was at work
Hope your results brings only good news. Good luck.
Cheers
Gabriele

Like others here, I'm not a doctor or medical professional, but I am a very experienced cancer patient... the thing is, the CT scan machine can't diagnose anything! All it can show is where any tissue abnormalities are but it cannot show any more than that. As others have said, the only definitive way to diagnose cancer is for a pathologist to look at cells under a microscope.

My pathology results took a week after my biopsy.

- Margaret

My symptom was a swollen lymph node, so I had a biopsy the same day I first saw the ENT. It took about a week for the results to come back and then in short order he schedule a CT, followed by a PET/CT, then surgery

Regarding your local CoC Cancer Center's light caseload for oropharynx cancer, you should be able to add Tonsil cases since they group these separately. Some of the tongue cases are probably Base-of-Tongue which is also the oropharynx region. I would also recommend you ask since just one case makes me uncomfortable.

For reference the CoC Comprehensive Cancer Center I went to has capacity for 60 H&N cases a year at the Center and another 40 (using standard IMRT) at their hospital based satellite centers.

Several of the NCI Centers report a H&N caseload two to three times that amount.

I think with the symptoms I had and with the first CT scan that did show swollen lymph nods, they could've saved me sometime and did the biopsy much earlier. The first visit to the ENT after the first scan, I was seen by his assistant, she looked through the endoscopy and she said that there is some fullness at the base of the tongue repeating waht the first CT scan report indecated and she said that the whole area was irritaed and gave antibiotics and told me to this could be related to Acide reflux as well and asked to repeate the scan after 4 weeks. so if I think the ENT DR not his assistant saw me that day he could've orderd the Biopsy much earlier at least 3 weeks earlier. so I'm not sure if that assistant missed seeing the Mass or there was no mass at that time and now I wonder couldit be possible that the mass got larger that fast that became 2.5x2 cm?

Don't know the actual comparison numbers but Primaries (cancer starting point) involving the Tonsils and Base of Tongue, the Oropharynx region, are not that uncommon and more often than not test positive for HPV, especially if tobacco use is not in the patients history.

But again you need to get the biopsy to confirm cancer in the first place.

My ENT gave my wife the her interpretation of the biopsy right afterwards while I was still unconscious in the recovery room as Cancer tumor. Stage IV etc. That was based on her experience and the CT scan. The formal pathology reports confirming cancer came in later next week. Good luck. For what it is worth, it took a year for my cancer to get diagnosed after antibiotics, sinus, eardrops, etc.

ct is open to interpretation by the one reading it, thus one of the reasons a biopsy is so important and reported as the only sure tell way of knowing. a mass showing on a scan can be from multiple factors. the cancer theory may be correct but never accept that diagnosis until you have to (ie: have it confirmed by biopsy). Best wishes and keep us posted

Had the biopsy this morning, for some reason did not freeze it and will not know the result until my next appoitement in 2 weeks. so basicly I have another 2 weeks to wait.

Shouldnt they looked at it under the microscope today? why did nt they do that?

I must have been lucky, Surgeon confirmed what I had thought, and within a week, it was confirmed and I was moving like I was just shot out of a cannon. Just had a 3rd CtScan in less than 3 weeks today. This has me wondering what is going on in this stomach to cause so much pain and a nice size lump that seems to be causing it.

maherC they most likely send it to the lab rather than having someone on site to look at it... and even when they took samplings at time of my surgery it took about 10 days to get report back and that lab was in the same hospital ... i know it is hard to wait - the unknown is the hardest part but hang in there and keep your mind busy on other things as much as possible so time passes faster. fingers crossed for good report!