Breast biopsy results

You know what? Sometimes doctors and surgeons have a bit of a problem understanding these reports. If this lump is truly cm and not mm it is quite large. 2.54 cm = 1 inch. It is benign which is good but I am guessing that some of the fancy words could mean changes in the tissue and possibly the concern is more changes in the future could mean a change to malignant. Now that is a pure guess on my part, I am not going to pretend to know for sure. BUT I bet your doctor or the surgeon you see will be glad to elaborate on the wording. Do see a surgeon and get the thing removed, if it isn't right I think you would want it out. And at that size if it leaves a dimple in your breast when removed, it will fill in unless you are a really, really thin person. I had quite a large dimple that was gone in a year or less. Come back and let us know what is happening. Hugs MK

hi all newbie.....had first mamo..........microcalcifications indeterminate 13 mm....final on report from magnified view....funny though...first it said loosely clusterred..linearly grouped.......now says indeterminate which means i assume they dont know what the heck they are looking at...so the question si to have or not ot have recommended biopsy..there is a good article in the readers digest for april on this issue..........i am a nurse as well.......the nurse in me says do it.......me myself and i say hold off...after through research it may be best to not fix what isnt broken.........once you start foolign around u create problems......asymptomatic..no wgt loss, no joint pain...iron good...........not sure what direction but the research i have been reading is pointing to alot of uncessary biopsies resulting in major issues for those so call suspicious microcals...........if they can determine a calc is benign by visualtion on films and they can tell it is cancer/malignancy  the same way then when they can tell your better off leaving it alone and watch and wait..........i have some time...had two radilogist opinion now appt with surgeon on 4/14/2009..lets see...oh by the way they also said fibrogladular desities seen in both breast and benign microcalcifications in right...stange.......hugs to all trish........

Hi..I'm new..im just wondering if you yourself had Breast problems and or a family history like a mother of aunt grandmother had Breast Cancer?  My freinds mom had died from Breast Cancer! What a shame..

Just Curious!

 

aspet..Hi..I definatly agree with you.and to tell you the truth..why open a can of worms!!!!!!!!!! Alot of these drs. are guessing..that is why they have what we call "Biopsies" I have already been halfway through a "Stereotactic" biopsy procedure went "Wrong"! And let me be truthful with you..its Pretty Painful..speaking for myself and small Breasts here.. I spoke to a few freinds of mine that had large Breasts and had this procedure done. and they said its not painful at all..because when you are small breasted they have to lay you on the table ..pull your breast till you cant take the pain no more.. and its worse then childbirth..(speaking for myself and small breasted woman.. That same day..the radiologist felt sorry for me..and saw me in tears..non stop and said. ."Listen..I'm gonna do films of my own.. and when she did..she said she did'nt see changes for 3 years on my mamo of the calcifications.. and lemme tell you..I will not have my self cut open for this wire-surgery biopsy! I had seen a Surgeon..and he said. 95 % it is Nothing!! I'll stick with that ..Thanksyou!

Jeanette

Aspet, The same day I had my mammogram the doctor looked at the film and said you have BC.
Of course she needed to confirm it and asked me to stay for both needle plus core biopsy, not a stereotactic. The area was numbed and the needle biopsy did not hurt at all, the core did, but was very bearable. A week later her diagnosis was confirmed.
Later I had a lumpectomy and restoration, spent three days in the hospital because my BP was too low 80/40. The only real pain I felt was in the recovery room and I was given Dilaudid. When I went home I was practically pain free and took only X-stength Tylenol.

Please listen to MK, Bev & Lori they are giving you the very best advice and the small amount of discomfort is worth maybe saving your life.

Jane

My biopsies have been surgical. They were for palpable lumps that were not evident on mammography. I've had two malignant tumors, and one benign tumor. I've not had microcalcifications, but I have lost a friend who had microcalcifications that proved to be DCIS (which is why clusters of microcalcifications are "suspicious." No, they are not always cancer, but if they are...) She was treated aggressively by her choice, with mastectomy followed by chemotherapy. She lost her battle a few years later. But it was a few years with her children that she would not otherwise have had, and I'm sure she never regretted for a minute that she fought for those years.

It boils down to this... I would like to see breast cancer eradicated! Until that happens, I would rather see women living with it than dying from it. If doctors have to do biopsy 80 benign tumors to catch 20 malignant ones, I'll send up three cheers for the 80 benign ones, and thank those women for helping save the lives of the 20 who were unlucky enough to be diagnosed with cancer.

BEV

Jeanette, I had two malignant (invasive cancer) tumors in one breast, one benign biopsy on the other side. I was 36 at the time I was diagnosed with cancer (15 years ago!). I had never even had a mammogram prior to finding the lumps. The reason mammograms save lives is this: breast cancer is typically slow growing, so a breast cancer can be often be detected on a mammogram years before it becomes a palpable lump. Of course, the longer the cancer is present, the larger it grows, the more likely it is invasive. So mammograms do save lives. Most women who come here to this board worried and then have a benign biopsy come back to report their benign findings and then we don't hear from them again. That's a good thing! They don't have cancer. So you won't find women posting who had one biopsy and are okay unless you look at old posts.

You have certainly been through the wringer, haven't you! I was so sorry to read about your daughter. How old is she? And how is she doing? And you, with a kidney transplant? (Diabetes?) And skin cancer, too? What type of skin cancer?

I truly wish we knew what causes cancers. I had genetic testing done, and I was negative for genetic markers (my mom died of cancer when I was 7, my brother has had prostate cancer, lost one aunt to lung cancer, the other to leukemia, after she survived ovarian cancer, a first cousin with breast cancer... and the list goes on!) I think we just don't know enough about how cancers start...and we sure don't know enough about how to cure them! In the meantime, I think we just have to do what we can to detect them early so they don't take lives that could otherwise be saved.

Hugs to you!
BEV

Okay, here's the thing about microcalcifications. If they just look like salt sprinkled over the film, then that is okay. But they watch those little grains carefully. If they change and start to cluster, then that can be an indication of cancer, usually "in situ," which is usually easy to treat. So if they are telling you that you didn't have clusters before, but now you do, then I would check with a breast surgeon. You don't have to have a wire guided biospy... talk to the doctor about a regular surgical biopsy. If he knows about your past experience, I don't see why they couldn't just put you out and do a surgical biopsy. I never had to take more than a couple of Tylenol 3's after a biopsy.

I'm assuming the pills you are taking are immunosupressants. They also suppress our bodies ability to fight cancer cells, and they grow like wildfire, which is why the skin cancers keep popping up. If your microcalcifications are clustered, and if they are cancer "in situ," it would be logical to think it could become invasive more quickly than most people's would. Please check this out with your transplant team. I'm sure they could address this more knowledgeably than I can or could direct you to a good surgeon to discuss it with.

And you are right, doctors just don't address pain or complication issues as well as they could. I read an article about oncologists who had cancer, and they all said they heard their patients talk about fatigue, but they never fully understood the extent of it until they had to go through it themselves. I'm sure the same holds true for pain. I had a rather complicated reconstruction called a TRAM-flap, which takes abdominal muscles to create a new "breast." They told me that in 6-8 weeks I'd be back to normal, I just wouldn't be able to do sit-ups anymore. Ha! Try years later, and I'm still dealing with the ramifications of that surgery.

I know you didn't go through 4 years of dialysis and the transplant process just to die from the complications of immunosuppressive therapy, so please check on this!

Can I ask how old you and your daughter are? She sounds like an incredible young lady!

BEV

Hi, Jeannette. DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) is a non-invasive, very early form of breast cancer (sometimes it's even referred to as a precancerous condition). Left untreated, DCIS can become invasive breast cancer. Clusters of microcalcifications can be an indication of DCIS. I can't tell you statistically how many clusters turn out to be DCIS, how many turn out to be nothing. I do know that if you catch DCIS early, it is very treatable, and with your current health situation, it would be much better to catch DCIS before it has become invasive cancer. The only way to know for sure if your suspicious areas are DCIS is through a biopsy. I hope you will get that biopsy sooner, rather than later, because of the immunosuppressants.

By the way, I'm 51. I had was diagnosed with two invasive breast cancers with lymph node invasion at 36, had a mastectomy and reconstruction, 6 months of chemotherapy, and I've been "no evidence of disease" and no treatment ever since. I still see my oncologist every 3-4 months for blood work and occasional scans. Because breast cancer can be very slow growing, I will never be able to say that I'm cured. I'll have to die of something else first! LOL

I have two daughters myself, 27 and 28. Daughters are just the best, aren't they?

Anyway, please get those areas checked! Jeannette, they could be nothing! But if they are something, then it is so much better for you to deal with it now!

Hugs...
BEV

Jeannette, you simply have to be proactive about your health, especially since the transplant. Again, I can't give you statistics on the likelihood that this is DCIS. Maybe someone who has had DCIS can answer that for you. But I do know that the only way to know for sure is to have a biopsy.

As for the radiation, I don't know. Having you go back 7 times in one year sounds crazy. I don't know that we've had anyone with that many callbacks. Are you going to a breast center for this? For now, mammography is the best tool we have for early detection. Until they come up with something better, we're stuck with it. But I'll tell you, sometimes I wonder, if my mom had had a routine mammogram at 40, would she maybe have lived a longer life? We'll never know.

I don't know your daughters, but I know mine. They would much rather see me take care of myself than ignore a potential problem. They want you around for a long time!

Hugs...
BEV

Jeannette, that is so true! We all have to deal with something, it seems. But it doesn't seem fair that some people have to deal with so much more than others.

Take care,
BEV