Endoscope can explore abnormality in CT scan

I am having a “push endoscope,” or forced endoscope, soon. My doctor said that a CT scan showed a lesion, and he wants to look into it further.

Is “lesion” a fancy name for cancer?

The word “lesion” is a Latin word for “injury.” In medical parlance, it basically means anything that is abnormal. W

Although it is true that doctors will use the term “lesion” to describe something that could be cancerous, “lesions” definitely are not always cancer.

Push endoscopy, also called push enteroscopy, refers to pushing a small endoscope through the stomach farther down into the small intestine, so I suspect that your doctor thinks that the abnormality was seen on the CT scan is in the upper small intestine.

Cancer is rare in the small intestine, but, unfortunately, there are several types that do occur. Carcinoid, now considered a malignant tumor, is the most common.

The enteroscopy will allow your doctor to look at the abnormality and take a biopsy, if appropriate (which I suspect it will be, if a lesion is found). Some of the possibilities include benign tumors, such as adenomas and lipomas. I also have seen times when a CT scan abnormality has turned out to be nothing at all on endoscopy. Please let me know what is found.

I heard a cardiologist say that she no longer prescribes statins because “the calcium in statins clogged arteries, and instead of helping patients, we were killing them.”

I’m an 81-year-old man who had a mild stroke, and was told by a doctor that he thought I had had two heart attacks and I should take atorvastatin calcium, 40 mg, daily. I like milk and consume at least 2 cups daily. I take a multivitamin with 200 mg calcium. Should I be concerned about taking the atorvastatin? Over 30 studies in the past 30 years have confirmed the effectiveness and safety of statin drugs in people with known coronary disease or who are at high risk. There still are those who doubt, but the evidence has long since been considered settled by the vast majority of experts.

It is not clear, however, whether calcium supplements increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. Some studies have said they do, and others have said they do not. If they do increase risk, it is only by a small amount.

However, I would recommend against a calcium supplement, and suggest that you stop the multivitamin (there is little evidence that they do any good in most people), or at least find a brand with no calcium.

Only about 1 mg of your atorvastatin tablet is calcium, so you need not worry about the calcium in it.

— B.E. — Anon. Answer: