Inconclusive spots after diagnostic mammogram

mc1732

I'm 36 and have a family history of breast cancer. My mother had it and so did her mother. I have had mammograms and ultrasounds in the past because of age, lumpiness and density of my breast. Anyway, I had a routine mammogram in January after discovering some newwer lumps not previously there. A  couple weeks go by and they ask me to come back in for a diagnostic because of 2 areas that have appeared that were not on my previous mammograms. When I went in it took almost an hour to get good images from the mammogram because the areas are deep within. They followed up with an ultrasound. The ultrasound tech couldn't really get a clear image so she got the radiologist to come in and assist. He had a hard time as well. He stated that the mammogram got good pictures of the areas. That they werte not present before. He was not sure if they are benign or not, but he couldn't get a clear picture on the ultrasound either. He suggested I come back in 5-6 months for another mammogram and see if there is any new growth.

I don't understand. If they are unclear, why would they be waitin another 5-6 months? Anyone else have this issue or any ideas about this?

 

Jeeper4

I'm wondering if your radiology report gave a BIRADS score. Mine said indeterminate findings but classified as BIRADS IV and suggested I have a stereotactic biopsy. They were not able to technically do the stereotactic on me and there was a lot of background talk between surgeon, radiologist, and mammographer and I heard the radiologist say he would have recommended me coming back in 6 months for another mammogram. My surgeon consulted with the diagnostic mammo radiologist, independent radiologist, and stereo radiologist and they agreed 6 mos would be ok to wait. But if I wanted to go ahead and do the excisional biopsy he would do it. I soooo wanted to wait and not have to deal with it but I'm glad I did the surgery. 5-6 mos is a long time to wait as far as mentally coping with the what ifs and it would drive me crazy. With your family history I would want to be on top of things even though most breast cancers seem to be slow growing. Also, I had a long wait for my pathology as it had to be sent to Mayo and it was during the holidays. After the dx of DCIS with microinvasion, I had to get an MRI, heal from the excisional biopsy then get on the schedule for re-excision and SNB. So I was not able to have my surgery til Feb. 3. I say all this just to let you know that if you decide waiting is best for you, more time may be added doing any pre-surgery tests, etc. Also, when I went for the wire localization procedure, they used a 3D mammo and the radiologist said the calcifications showed up so much better so was wondering what type of mammo machine you had. Sorry you are in this situation, just make the decision based on your best interest, not their timeline.