After treatments for stage 1, MRI found a suspicious lesion, biopsy

Posted by brighterdays @brighterdays, Apr 10 9:19am

Last January I was diagnosed with stage 1 idc on right breast. I went through all the treatments and finally feel like I’m peering above the clouds. Yesterday I went in for an MRI and they found a suspicious lesion on my left breast that went from a birads 3 in October to birads 4 needing a biopsy. My heart sank. This is so hard.

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@brighterdays

Thank you. My biopsy is on Tuesday. I’ve been bouncing between sadness, anger and fear. Not ideal for sure but in moments of clarity I try to remember this saying. “Worry cannot take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace.” And it helps me find bits of happiness throughout each day.

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If it’s any consolation at all know that a repeat of malignant lesion in the contralateral breast is very, very low. I know this because I just went through the same thing as you are experiencing in January. Even though I did the research and found that the chances are very low that it’s malignant I was still shocked and surprised to get the negative results of the biopsy. So I know it’s hard to hang in there for a few more days, good luck…will be thinking of you, sending positive vibes.

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@brighterdays

Thank you. My biopsy is on Tuesday. I’ve been bouncing between sadness, anger and fear. Not ideal for sure but in moments of clarity I try to remember this saying. “Worry cannot take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace.” And it helps me find bits of happiness throughout each day.

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Thinking of you, @brighterdays.

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@brighterdays

Thank you. My biopsy is on Tuesday. I’ve been bouncing between sadness, anger and fear. Not ideal for sure but in moments of clarity I try to remember this saying. “Worry cannot take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace.” And it helps me find bits of happiness throughout each day.

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Hope the biopsy went okay today! Thinking of you, wishing you well!

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Don’t be afraid. They mark everything as birad4 as long as they are not almost 100% sure. MRI is too sensitive that it constantly pick up the wrong thing. Last Dec my MRI picked up a 15cm long band on my lung. Contrast CD scan two weeks later found nothing; the same MRI also found suspicious area and from the description really sounded like cancer on another breast. I ended up going through ultrasound and mammogram and its calcifications. However Radiologist still sent me to biopsy and also put a birad 4 on my radiologist report. The biopsy said I had ADH and needed to be removed since ADH will gradually increase the chance of getting breast cancer. I ended up having another mastectomy and the surgical pathology report didn’t find ADH at all. It’s all benign!

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@resort

Don’t be afraid. They mark everything as birad4 as long as they are not almost 100% sure. MRI is too sensitive that it constantly pick up the wrong thing. Last Dec my MRI picked up a 15cm long band on my lung. Contrast CD scan two weeks later found nothing; the same MRI also found suspicious area and from the description really sounded like cancer on another breast. I ended up going through ultrasound and mammogram and its calcifications. However Radiologist still sent me to biopsy and also put a birad 4 on my radiologist report. The biopsy said I had ADH and needed to be removed since ADH will gradually increase the chance of getting breast cancer. I ended up having another mastectomy and the surgical pathology report didn’t find ADH at all. It’s all benign!

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Presumably all those false positives with MRIs are the reason PET scans are preferred in Australia. But you can't have a PET scan if you have high blood sugar. Bit of a mystery!

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@triciaot

Hope the biopsy went okay today! Thinking of you, wishing you well!

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I’m doing a mammo and MRI today/tomorrow to decide on the “nodular enhanced foci” in one breast, Birads 3, and the enlarged lymph node on the other, previous DCIS, side.
My understanding is that an enhanced area is a loose mass and a lesion is a defined shape. A focal area is a small spot, could be just a calcified clump. In my case, they’re thinking the nodule is scar tissue from the breast reduction.
I’ve been quasi-quarantining trying to keep viral free so that lymph node isn’t temporarily enlarged. My young grandkids go to daycare, a bonafide petri-dish environment!
Keep your fingers crossed!

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@brighterdays

Thank you. My biopsy is on Tuesday. I’ve been bouncing between sadness, anger and fear. Not ideal for sure but in moments of clarity I try to remember this saying. “Worry cannot take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace.” And it helps me find bits of happiness throughout each day.

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I hope all went well. I know the waiting is terrible ❤️

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Thank you everyone. The biopsy came back benign. Breast tissue with calcification. I am grateful!

I’m wondering about all these imaging and what it picks up. Mammo is X-rays, US is sound waves, MRI is magnetic.
I have a lesion in the same area that is the same size (1mm difference) found by US last October. My thinking is it’s the same lesion but my surgeon wants to me get a US follow up now. I was told the different imaging methods pick up different things. And it may not be the same lesion.
Is there an article that explains how each imaging method differs in detail?
Wishing everyone the best results!

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@brighterdays

Thank you everyone. The biopsy came back benign. Breast tissue with calcification. I am grateful!

I’m wondering about all these imaging and what it picks up. Mammo is X-rays, US is sound waves, MRI is magnetic.
I have a lesion in the same area that is the same size (1mm difference) found by US last October. My thinking is it’s the same lesion but my surgeon wants to me get a US follow up now. I was told the different imaging methods pick up different things. And it may not be the same lesion.
Is there an article that explains how each imaging method differs in detail?
Wishing everyone the best results!

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Great news!

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I asked my radiation oncologist why bone scans aren’t part of my routine followup on my recurrent BC (only chest, abdomen, pelvis CTs are routine with any other scans only if symptomatic). He said because the bone scans would pick up a lot of insignificant incidental findings and then they’d have to check them all out. Scans are a great tool but unfortunately they also pick up a lot of things that lead to invasive follow-ups even though those things would never have caused any real trouble. Sort of a catch-22.

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