Suspicious area Bi-rad 2 or 3: Do I advocate for a biopsy or wait?

Hi @whitney2326, welcome. I've learned in life to trust my gut feelings. I think your gut feeling is telling you to get better information and clarification about your options and why. So let's see if I can bring in some other members and offer a bit of info to help prepare you for your upcoming meeting with the surgeon.

I find this clear explanation about the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System or BI-RADS from the American Cancer Society helpful.
– What is a BI-RADS assessment category? https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/screening-tests-and-early-detection/mammograms/understanding-your-mammogram-report.html

Fellow members @katrina123 @trixie1313 @danielle0313 and others have also seen BI_RADS 3 on their pathology reports and share their thoughts with you. In the meantime, you might want to review this related discussion:
- BI-RADS 3 Question https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/birads-3-question/

BI-RADS 3 means "A finding in this category has a very low (no more than 2%) chance of being cancer. It is not expected to change over time. But since it’s not proven to be benign, it’s helpful to be extra safe and see if the area in question does change over time."

So the recommendation to wait may be a reasonable approach. Your questions are the right ones to better understand your risk and what approach - wait and monitor or biopsy - is best at this time. That said, getting a second opinion from a cancer center is also a good idea. Have you come up with additional questions to ask?

@whitney2326, @colleenyoung
Looking back on a prior mammograms was birad3. However, the one I had when I found the actual lump was birads5. I wish I had asked for a biopsy at birad3 - it might have been a game changer. The one thing I was happy about was that I pushed for an MRI of the breasts which also noted a second tumor in the same breast but the opposite side.

I can't speak to your BRads rating, because when they got to the imaging for the cancer I had it was 3 large masses at BRads 5, but for my skin I have been advocating for biopsies on suspicious moles since I was 18, due to a family history of skin cancer.

I say better to check and have it benign than to wait and have it grow. At worst you'll pay out of pocket for peace of mind.

Agree 100%

My advice to you is to get a biopsy now. I had already had cancer in the right breast 11 years before (lumpectomy in right breast) and something was noticed on my mamo my in the left breast. I immediately went to my surgeon and he sent me for an MRI which came birads 3...go back in 6 months. I followed their directions and went for a second MRI in 6 months and it said birads 2. So I was told to get another mamo in 6 months and go from there. I insisted on a biopsy and was able to get one within a week. The biopsy showed that I had invasive duct all carcinoma. It was caught very early, but I suspect it became invasive during that wait. The fact is that I was misdiagnosed both times. The same radiologist read both MRIs....he teaches at a medical school too! Get a biopsy now. Waiting can really be a game changer. If I had kept on waiting, I could be dead now.

Hello @whitney2326 when I was first diagnosed 18 years ago. There were a lot of reasons why no one wanted to take this lump seriously. I was too young, it was too high on the chest to be breast tissue, breast cancer doesn’t hurt, then when I finally got a scan; something, but round and lobular, not cancer. After hearing all these things from medical professionals in a rural area, I decided it really was nothing. Another six or eight months later it was quite large, I had needle core biopsy that came back normal, a month later the surgeon (a friend) who did the biopsy came to my business and said “I don’t like it, and I want to take it out and put it under a microscope”.
If I had thought to push for it, or even one of he initial conversations had resulted in a diagnosis, I might or might not have been saved a lot of grief. I have to believe things happen for a reason. I am still here and it might have not changed a thing. What I hate most is I look back and think I could have done more.
Do you have a plan for getting this biopsy if you decide to push for it? Are you interested in trying to get in to the breast clinic at Mayo?

thank you i go today to meet with the surgeon and im pushing for a biopsy ..the change in this one area from BIRAD 2 to a BIRAD 3 in 4 months isnt ok with me .
xo

hi chris
i do plan to push and i actually would prefer it all taken out ...i have this constant nagging not like i am freaking out nagging but whisper ..which is why i ended yo at the doc 6 months go that they pretty much blew off after a negative mammogram ..fast forward this few months and this " area " is now being classified a BIRAD 3 ...which was a BIRAD 2 just a few months ago

meeting with a surgeon today.....im not very good at pushing for myself im hoping she understands im not doing the wait and see every 6 months

thank you so much for sharing ..this birad system is ridiculous ...im pushing for a biopsy today

did they biopsy the same birad "2" area and found the cancer ?