What does “Status post” mean on a radiology report?
Simply means "after". You have had the procedure or operation named.
Why the radiologist wrote it that way
Compressed medical shorthand for recording your surgical history in a few words: "status post cholecystectomy" means your gallbladder has been removed. It explains to anyone reading later why the anatomy looks the way it does.
Is this good or bad news?
Pure jargon and completely neutral. It is there so a radiologist looking at your scan in five years does not report a missing organ as a mystery. Often shortened to "s/p".
What it does not mean
- A complication, a status or a severity grade.
- That anything is wrong with the surgery you had.
Where you will see it
Words in this phrase
One phrase is not the whole report
What this sentence means for you depends on everything else your report says. Radily reads the whole thing and explains it in plain English — and can talk you through it on video, so you are not reading medical language alone.
Other phrases on your report
- Clinical correlation is recommendedThe radiologist is saying: here is what the pictures show, and now the doctor who knows your symptoms needs to decide what it means for you.
- Incidental findingSomething the scan picked up that has nothing to do with the reason you were scanned.
- Consistent withThe appearance fits the named condition — usually one your doctor already suspected.
- Motion degraded studyMovement during the scan blurred the images, so parts of the study are harder to read.
This explains how a phrase is commonly used in radiology reports. It is not a diagnosis, not a reading of your scan, and not medical advice. Only your doctor can tell you what your own report means.