Stereotactic for 2cm Mass. Your thoughts?
I (43F) had my yearly mammogram in September. Shortly thereafter I was called to come back in for a 2nd one + ultrasound due to discovery of a 2cm mass in my left breast that was not there 1 year ago. The mass appears solid white on the screen with no clear shape. 2nd mammo showed the mass again, same size, but the ultrasound was clear. That did not show any mass. I do not have any history of breast cancer in my family & do not currently have any symptoms of BC. I had my stereotactic biopsy done over a week ago & was told to expect results today or Monday. I have barely been able to eat or sleep in 3 weeks I'm so scared. Has anyone experienced something similar to this? Below are the notes from my patient portal. Can anyone give me their thoughts on if this is cancer or something benign? Are "no calcifications within the specimen" a good or bad thing?
BREAST SURGEON NOTES PRE BIOPSY:
Left diagnostic mammogram reveals a persistent 2cm opacity at the inner left breast, 2cm from the nipple. A targeted left breast ultrasound revealed no mass, distortion, cyst, or other suspicious finding with special attention to the inner left breast. In the left breast there is an area of firmer breast tissue in the 9-10 o'clock area, no discreet mass. There is no palpable axillary lymphadenopathy bilaterally. There is no evidence of skin thickening, nipple retraction, or nipple discharge. Stereotactic core needle biopsy recommended. ACR caterogy 4a. Suspicious.
POST BIOPSY FINDINGS / IMPRESSION:
As expected, there are no calcifications within the specimen. Procedure was performed for asymmetry, and not for calcifications.
Comments
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I can't speak to the calcifications, but the 4a is a good sign. It means they think the mass has only a 10% (or less) chance of being cancer. They do a biopsy any time they think a finding has more than a 2% chance of being malignant - meaning, if they're “only 97% sure” it's nothing to worry about, they'll do a biopsy! 4b is more like 10-50%, and 4c is 50-95%, and if they are 95-100% certain what they’re seeing is cancer they give it a 5. So, it sounds like they really don’t expect it to be cancer but are making absolutely certain, which is a good thing.
But it’s also incredibly stressful and a real mind game, isn’t it? Hang in there, do your best to distract yourself this weekend, and you’ll know something soon. Let us know how things turn out!
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"do not currently have any symptoms of BC"
I never had symptoms, not even a palpable lump. And there are many people who have posted on here who list all kinds of symptoms and it turned out they did not have cancer - either a benign condition or nothing at all but google-itis. So "symptoms" or "no symptoms" are frequently indicative of nothing - welcome to the world of Schrodinger's Breasts. I hope yours are in the no symptoms, no cancer 😺-egory.
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I just wanted to post an update that my results were benign. They said it is something called PASH. It's a fibrocystic tissue change which can occur in premenopausal women. It doesn't put me at a higher risk for breast cancer so I can continue w/ my yearly mammograms.
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Glad to hear it!
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Wonderful! So glad for you!!
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yay
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I had a diagnosis of PASH in my "good" breast after MRI guided biopsy and I am several years post menopause. I guess it was there a while (it wasn't seen on mammogram, only on MRI).
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