Mammogram abnormal - Cancer: Breast Message Board

britishgirl2 · 03-24-2005, 04:33 PM

I had a call from my doctor today stating that I needed to go back and get some more pictures taken of my left breast as there was a shadow that they weren't sure what it was? she did say that they didn't find any masses or skin thickening? I have to have another mammogram and an ultrasound done. I have never had an abnormal mammogram before and am really worried about this.......anyone give me any info here?

BioAdoptMom3 · 03-24-2005, 09:52 PM

The same thing happened to me this past summer (after my first routine mammogram) and I was terrified, but it turns out its really very common! When I went back for the repeat and the ultrasound it indicated that I needed a biopsy, which ended up not being nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Anyway, my point here is that according my radioogist, chances of a report like this turing out to be cancer are not even 5%! Actually they also said only 10 to 20% of patients need any type of biopsy after the repeat mammogram and ultrasound. Doctors just can't take any chances now so they have to do everything they can to make sure you are fine. The chances of a GOOD report are heavily in your favor! Let me know what happens.

Nancy

ElenaK · 03-25-2005, 12:55 PM

I got the same call a few months ago and was terrified!!! It turned out that it was a false positive, i.e. there was tissue overlap in the left breast and the machine picked it up as a shadow. These false positives are very common, especially if you are under 40 and the breast tissue is quite dense.

My referral slip also had ***** w/ ultrasound. They did the ***** first (spot compressions, kind of painful...) and when they saw that the suspicious area spread out with localised pressure (ouch!), they skipped the ultrasound and asked me to come back in a year or two.

Try to relax, there is a very good chance that you are being called back because of a false positive. Do let us know how things turn out.

britishgirl2 · 04-05-2005, 01:48 PM

Update: I had my 2nd Mammogram/spot compression done along with an ultrasound - I just got the report today which states "your recent breast exam showed an area that we believe is benign (not cancer). However, in 6 months, you should have a follow-up to confirm that this area has not changed".

What exactly does that mean? I hate having to read between the lines on these reports.

BioAdoptMom3 · 04-05-2005, 08:18 PM

It means that they have reason to believe you do NOT have cancer, hooray! but that you should follow up with it in six months just to be sure there is still no cause for concern. Something that should really encourage you is that whenever they are in doubt they will do a biopsy, so the fact that you just have to have another one in six months is a very encouraging sign!

Nancy