Dent, Pain, No Lump - MRI reveals Mondor Disease
First, I want to thank all the heroic women and men on this site for generously sharing their stories and learning. It bolstered my courage as a self-advocate and enabled me to be more informed in considering next steps. This was a warm and comforting place to go when my mind took me to scary places. I offer my story below in case its helpful to someone else who has a dent & breast pain but no lumps felt or seen on US or Mammo.
I am a 59 year old mom of two. No hormone therapy. No special risks. Exercise. Eat right. Heterogenous dense breasts (yup got that ridiculous message after mammo that all is good but they are really can't tell). Got called back twice in last 3 annual mammos for left breast. Both times had 3D mammo squashing and US and nothing was found. Last one in Feb 2017.
My BS diagnosed me with Mondor's disease(via MRI) , also have benign cysts on left and a birad3 4mm spot on right from radiology report. I have a 6 month call back for the latter so actually in a wait and see now but have fingers crossed. I also still have some minor nagging doubts about Mondors (can't see vein on skin and hasn't gone away yet) so have decided to call radiologist group and ask them to review scans again to see if they see thrombosed vein(evidence of Mondors). Aside from that will have to wait on small spot on right till next MRI in a few months.
My story is below:
History
In August 2017, felt a pain left inner lower breast like blood blister in size and intensity. Pain continued on and off, a little pulling pain as well but no lumps. One day I tried to see why it hurt so lifted my left arm above head in mirror and saw a small dent (skin retraction) kite shaped in left lower inner breast but only about inch wide and not very deep(maybe 1/8 inch). Gah! Freaked out.
Sept 2017 saw OBY/GYN, could feel no lumps but she was worried about dent and said to go to surgeon.
Mid Sept – went to BS and no lumps, BS dismissed dent basically but reimaged me due to my anxiety. 3D mammo and US on left - nothing found…again. I asked for MRI given dense breasts and possibility of ILC hiding but BS discouraged me saying false positives, insurance may not pay etc. Thanks to what I learned on this site I didn't accept this and decided to get MRI. My oby/gyn agreed it was good idea.
Mid Oct – MRI results: small benign cysts in left and birad 3 (4mm spot) on right. Must repeat in 6 months to see if birad3 spot changes. No explanation for dent.
Early Nov – Decided to go to new BS and get fresh eyes on my scans and dent. Great lady. She reviewed my MRI scans with me in detail and showed me on the left breast the MRI revealed a big line (vein) crossing near the dent which she felt confident was Mondor's disease and was causing the skin retraction.
Comments
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Hi Dw,
There is a topic here for Mondor's although it is very short on posts: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/70/topics...
Hope that 4mm "spot" is nothing! Let us know.
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Thanks marijen. Me too
Doc said it looked pretty faint and given tiny size as well likely tough to biopsy. She was ok with 6 month follow up. 0 -
I'm assuming you are having your next MRI soon, pleas update on what happens.
I myself am going to have one next month for a indent on my outer left breast that looks like a sideways V ( < ) with the clsed side to my arm and the open side to my nipple when I flex, and the bottom line visible with arms down 24/7. I don't feel a lump my doctor said it didn't seem like anything serious but offered me an ultrasound be cause I'm to young for mammogram but it came back clear. I also pushed for MRI but because of my period It is a pain to schedule. I also use a flashlights to try and see if I can find a dark mass or something but nothing.
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Hi Giselle,
Sorry for not replying sooner. I had a reminder to log back in and close out some comments once i had closure and just remembered i still had not done this. Luckily all is well. I hope the comments below will be helpful for you.
I did go back for another 3d mammo and the MRI and they confirmed there was nothing concerning on the left breast of concern where the indent was and still remains a year later. It has not changed at all and there is still no thickening or lump. The breast surgeon also said that what she thought was mondors likely was not. There are no other symptoms. On the right breast (no symptoms at all) they confirmed the same finding as last time which is why they requested the follow up but made the comment that this never should have been noted as a point of concern and the follow up MRI likely should not have been required.
My dent is a bit different I think in that i only see it when i am standing and lift my arm above my head, not pectoral mucscles involved. Also its about 1 inch wide and kind of forms a obtuse triangle colorless other than seeing the indentation. its on the underside of my left breast closer to the middle.
In addition the pain i was feeling also went away although I did cut down on caffeine at least a little. I was a bit scared straight when all this happened and made a commitment to do what i could to make my health as good as it could be. Helped me get through the dark thoughts knowing i was doing everything i could for myself and if i was lucky enough to be healthy to stay that way. I adopted a very health diet, lots of turmeric, pomegranite veggies, fish, etc. Exercised more and do intermittent fasting. Really helped keep me sane.
Best of luck to you.
DW
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