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Topic: Mammogram/ ultrasound negative - only dense breasts?

Forum: ILC (Invasive Lobular Carcinoma) — Just diagnosed, in treatment, or finished treatment for ILC.

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Posted on: Aug 12, 2018 08:58PM - edited Aug 12, 2018 09:01PM by Kate8

Kate8 wrote:

I would like to preface my question to acknowledge that maybe this isn't the right place to post this question as this board may be only for those diagnosed with ILC but hopefully some of you don't mind sharing some insight. I know that ILC can often evade detection on mammo and US but I was curious if most of you with that experience have dense breasts?

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Aug 13, 2018 03:08AM trinigirl50 wrote:

Yes I had dense breasts, and yes my scans and mammagrams were all clear despite 6x 4cms of area of tumour involvement.

trinigirl50 Dx 3/7/2015, ILC, Left, 6cm+, Stage IIIC, Grade 2, 20/24 nodes, ER+/PR-, HER2- Surgery 3/7/2015 Lymph node removal: Underarm/Axillary; Mastectomy: Left; Prophylactic mastectomy: Right Chemotherapy 4/13/2015 AC + T (Taxotere) Hormonal Therapy 9/14/2015 Arimidex (anastrozole), Femara (letrozole) Radiation Therapy 10/1/2015 Whole-breast: Breast, Lymph nodes
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Aug 13, 2018 03:21AM - edited Aug 13, 2018 03:22AM by Elisabeth_W

Yes. My breasts have been described in mammogram reports as both dense and extremely dense. My ILC was undetected by mammogram, though found by US and estimated at 6mm. My presurgery MRI also indicated that the mass was 7x6x4 mm. On lumpectomy it was 12 mm. Still very small by ILC standards. At my initial visit, my surgeon said I should that I should be thanking whatever higher power I believed in at least 3 times.

Breast density definitely has an effect on imaging results. MRI helps with that, but typically won't detect something smaller than 3mm.

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Aug 13, 2018 05:13AM dtad wrote:

Hi everyone. My ILC was missed on both 3D mammo and U/S. Only picked up on MRI. Yes, my breasts are dense...

Dx 3/20/2015, IDC, Left, 1cm, Stage IA, Grade 2, ER+/PR+, HER2- Dx 4/10/2015, ILC, 1cm, Stage IA, Grade 2, ER+/PR+, HER2- Surgery 5/21/2015 Lymph node removal: Sentinel; Mastectomy: Left, Right; Reconstruction (left): Silicone implant; Reconstruction (right): Silicone implant
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Aug 13, 2018 10:03AM livetoday wrote:

I've been researching alternative screening options and came across researchers using dogs to detect breast cancer. It's a great story and they claim really amazing results. It may be a way to help with anxiety from questions about a mammogram. Here's one of the companies I came across - bioscentdx.com

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Aug 13, 2018 12:21PM - edited Aug 13, 2018 12:21PM by nash

Yes I have dense breasts.

Stage IV Pleomorphic ILC, initially diagnosed at age 38 Dx 6/7/2007, ILC, Left, 2cm, Stage IV, metastasized to bone, Grade 2, 0/4 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2- (FISH) Surgery 7/19/2007 Lumpectomy: Left; Lymph node removal: Sentinel Chemotherapy 8/1/2007 CAF Radiation Therapy 12/27/2007 Whole-breast: Breast, Chest wall Hormonal Therapy 3/1/2008 Tamoxifen pills (Nolvadex, Apo-Tamox, Tamofen, Tamone) Dx 4/24/2015, ILC, Left, 1cm, Stage IV, metastasized to other, Grade 2, 0/10 nodes, ER+/PR+ Surgery 5/15/2015 Mastectomy; Reconstruction (left): Latissimus dorsi flap Dx 2/1/2018, ILC, Right, 6cm+, Stage IV, metastasized to other, Grade 3, ER+/PR+ Chemotherapy 2/15/2018 Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide), Taxol (paclitaxel), Taxotere (docetaxel) Dx 6/20/2018, ILC, Both breasts, 6cm+, Stage IV, metastasized to brain/bone, Grade 3, ER+/PR+ Targeted Therapy 7/1/2018 Ibrance (palbociclib) Dx 7/17/2020, ILC, Both breasts, 6cm+, Stage IV, metastasized to brain/bone, Grade 2, ER+/PR+, HER2- (FISH) Chemotherapy 7/17/2020 Xeloda (capecitabine) Radiation Therapy 7/23/2020 Hormonal Therapy Faslodex (fulvestrant), Zoladex (goserelin) Radiation Therapy External: Brain
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Aug 13, 2018 01:29PM beach2beach wrote:

Yes, I had extremely dense breasts >75%. My mammo was clear. My sono showed a 7mm spot which initially the radioligist thought was just my breast tissue. Upon another radiologists view it was biopsied and it was ILC.

Dx 7/28/2017, LCIS/DCIS/ILC, Right, <1cm, Stage IA, Grade 1, 0/2 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2- Surgery 8/8/2017 Mastectomy: Left, Right; Reconstruction (left); Reconstruction (right) Hormonal Therapy 9/12/2017 Tamoxifen pills (Nolvadex, Apo-Tamox, Tamofen, Tamone)
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Aug 15, 2018 02:54PM dakrock wrote:

Yes all my mammograms said extremely dense breasts.  I was always called back for a sonogram which showed all was okay until the sonogram in November of 2017.   They recommended a core biopsy which was done and an MRI.  MRI showed a round mass at 3:00 with irregular margins and avid enhancement measuring 1.5 x 1.4 x 1.7 cm saying this is contiguous with an 0.8 cm focus of nonmass enhancement located a 0.6 inferior to the dominant mass at 5-6:00 .  the entire craniocaudal dimension measures 2.9 cm.   Wow I'm not sure why we even need mammograms I say we should be able to go directly to a sonogram.  Three years I was called back for the sonogram when this was obviously growing all the time.  

Bonnie Dx 12/4/2017, ILC, Right, 2cm, Stage IA, Grade 2, ER+/PR+, HER2- Hormonal Therapy 12/5/2017 Femara (letrozole) Surgery 2/23/2018 Mastectomy: Right; Reconstruction (right): Nipple reconstruction, Saline implant Hormonal Therapy Arimidex (anastrozole)
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Aug 30, 2018 10:38AM claireinaz wrote:

Yes to dense breasts; I asked and received 2 breast MRIs before I finally went ahead and had my BMX/reconstruction surgery. I didn't trust US or mammo or even a combo of both. My MO said that together they were very reliable, but...I couldn't trust that completely because I had mammos that reported clear, when for mostly likely a few years there was a problem the mammo didn't catch.

9/29/11 ILC, 2 c. stage II grade 1, ER/PR+ HER2-, 6/11 nodes, lumpectomy, DDAC x 4, Taxol x 12, 33 rads, Tamoxifen/arimidex/aromasin, BMX/immed recon 7/3/13 "In the midst of winter, I found in me an invincible summer.” Albert Camus
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Sep 3, 2018 10:23AM Dani444 wrote:

My mammogram/ultrasound states heterogeneously dense breasts. My mass showed on both mammogram and ultrasound, but was measured differently by both. Ultrasound measured it smaller than mammo. I had a breast MRI that found satellite lesions anterior and posterior to known mass. I am waiting to get a biopsy of these spots to determine treatment options. The measurement on the MRI was closer to the measurement on ultrasound, unless the satellite lesions come back as cancer cells, that makes it even bigger than the mammo measurement.

DX @ 46, premenopausal, mammaprint low risk Dx 8/21/2018, LCIS/ILC, Right, 4cm, Stage IB, Grade 2, 2/3 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2- (IHC) Surgery 10/25/2018 Lymph node removal: Sentinel; Mastectomy: Right; Reconstruction (right): Silicone implant Radiation Therapy 12/6/2018 Lymph nodes, Chest wall Surgery 8/20/2020 Prophylactic mastectomy: Left; Reconstruction (left): Silicone implant Hormonal Therapy Tamoxifen pills (Nolvadex, Apo-Tamox, Tamofen, Tamone)
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Sep 6, 2018 05:42AM Faith46 wrote:

Yes. My breasts were considered dense. Doctors knew there was a problem when breast cancer first appeared in my lymph nodes. Nothing was identified on the or3D mammograms or ultrasound. It was only seen in an MRI.

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Sep 6, 2018 05:48AM RyansMomma wrote:

I find it odd how the ultrasound can miss a huge tumor in the breast(s)! Mine was over 6 cm and they looked under my arms and ultrasound even missed the cancer in my lymph nodes. Only an MRI caught my ILC. This cancer is sneaky sneaky. I have dense breasts, I'm only 19 (almost 20.) so it makes sense. I'm curiousif women without dense breasts have this issue too? I have so many questions since I'm still in shock over my diagnosis.

Dx at 19 years old. I am currently 20. I am a mother of a 6 year old cat named Ryan. He is my little angel! Dx 9/4/2018, ILC, Both breasts, 6cm+, Stage IIIA, Grade 2, 9/11 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2- (FISH) Surgery 9/4/2018 Lymph node removal: Left, Right, Underarm/Axillary; Mastectomy: Left, Right Hormonal Therapy 9/5/2018 Tamoxifen pills (Nolvadex, Apo-Tamox, Tamofen, Tamone)

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