MRIs..accuracy questions

Janeway69

Hi.

When I read forum posts here and people talk about bi rads ratings, they almost always seem to refer to mammograms.

I had an MRI done last year which came back as a bi-rads three. I read about how they are 97% to 99% accurate, but I wonder if that's really for bi-rads three ratings or really for a 2 rating.

Are there people here who had a bi-rads three MRI, and after a year or more, found out they had cancer?

Background:

Last year I was called to return after something was found in my mammogram. The year before, I had a recall too. But the item of concern "disappeared" or something at the time, so they let me leave and said not to worry.

Of course, when I did my recall LAST year, I was told "No, it didn't disappear. It moved. This time the item did not move for us."

Sidebar: I feel like every time I talk to someone else about my tests I get a whole new explanation or at least other info that I didn't have before. Sigh.

Anyway, I was sent for an MRI and result was a bi-rads 3. No evidence of malignancy, slow uptake (of whatever chemical was put in me), similar to fibrocystic changes," etc.I was told the item was near my chest wall ( I don't like that). My GYN reviewed the info and noted that there was a cyst cluster and one "nodule" that had a slight asymmetry. She raised an eye at the asymmetry part but didn't freak.

A few weeks before my six month follow up diagnostic mammo/sono, I started having aching pain in the left breast. It didn't just come and go with my period etc. It remained. I heard from a friend that fibrocystic breasts can be painful. I asked the nurses and techs and they said "Yes." The mammogram/sono results was "no change." So I left. After a couple of weeks the pain went away. That was in October 2015.

Now the pain has come back. IT's a strong dull ache and has gone to my armpit and adjacent armpit muscle. No swelling. It has been going on for weeks, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. I just had my annual GYN appointment yesterday and explained this to her. When she asked if I felt anything in the right, TECHNICALLY, I had to say "yes" but I described it as just a twinge. I mean, on many days if not most, I've felt one quick tiny something in the right, but really, it's nothing. I'm almost thinking I shouldn't have even mentioned it.

Breast exam revealed nothing. This thing has been inpalpable the entire time. My GYN is generally very watchful and somewhat neurotic even, so I tend to trust her inclinations. She reviewed all my past tests and said "Just go for your regular mammogram. You'll be fine".

I think any mass can cause pain, benign or cancerous, if it's hitting the wrong nerve. But I'm wondering if I'm in the 1% to 3% despite everything written above.

MelissaDallas

I personally would believe that I am fine and that the symptoms I have are congruent with apparent fibrocystic changes found on my imaging. Unnecessary biopsies cause problems of their own, including causing scarring in the breast that makes reading future imaging harder or more likely to mask another problem. If I had a Birads 3 on an MRI and my other tests looked okay I would not request biopsy. That is just me.

Janeway69

Thanks. That certainly is a rational mindset. Sometimes pain can make it hard to stay that way. I may request the name of a breast specialist for another opinion. No harm in that I think.

I've heard about all the problems that can come from unnecessary biopsies, but so many of them seem to revolve more around mistaking things for cancer or infections, etc, than actually being sure someone doesn't have cancer. In its way it makes sense, but in another way it doesn't. To me at least.


Given what you've been through (I read your Dx), I am especially thankful to you for your fair minded answer.