Yes or No US?

Ddw79

I am very unsure about surveillance ultrasound. I am one year post ADH DX on excisional biopsy. I am almost 64 and on Evista since January of 2016.

Clean 3D in October 2015z. Will have exam by breast clinic nurse next week.

GYN will write for any kind of surveillance. 2 MOs just recommend yearly Mammograms.

Insurance will not cover MRI without US. I will be paying OOP for US if I do that. I have a huge deductible.

I don't really know what to do and I realize that the choice is personal.

Will US be helpful . Original DX came from microcalcifications in linear presentation but October Mammogran showed birad 1.

Any opinions/ knowledge would be appreciated

Tinkerbell49

Hi Ddw79

As you already know I just had all 3 mri, us, mammogram I have ins and oop is 2100.00. I am going to see why but I got a bill for that amt.

As far as mri and us I believe with the US you need a good technician that takes there time. When I was being diagnosed after a suspicious mammogram I had an us in my local hospital and the tech only found a .5 m cyst. I went to the breast specialist hospital and had more images and an us. This is where they saw the area that needed a biopsy and they found adh on the core needle biopsy. So yes I think us are great if you have the right tech and radiologist performing it.

Mri is a great tool but depending on your breast activity you can get false positives and false neg. I think they are all good .

My surveillance is mammogram 6 mo later us 6 mo later mri. So every 18 mo I get an mri. But at this cost I'm not sure I can keep it up. I'm going to find out why I have a large oop if it's not a mistake I'll have to switch ins.

A birds1 is awesome I got a birds 2 I had a couple of cysts. They didn't mention calcifications in the report., Which was my problem the first time around ( clustered). Not taking tomaxifen yet.

If you can I think all should be done .

Ddw79

So nice of you Tinkerbell. I really appreciate your reply and yoursharing your surveillance routine with me.

These costs really mount up don't they?

I certainly couldn't keep that up. I will probably do the US but there is always a possibility of false positive there too.

momoschki

FWIW, I have exactly a similar surveillance schedule as Tinkerbell. My understanding is that the mammogram, US, and MRI can all see different things, so I feel some degree of security knowing that I am being watched by every modality available (although there is no question that the whole schedule is very unnerving). Also, I think Iremember reading somewhere that MRI's have the highest false positive rate.

My insurance picks up the cost of all of these. Maybe your doctor could contact your insurance carrier to attempt to justify the US as medically necessary?

Anonymous

My facility won't use US for screening purposes. they will only do an US if something suspicious is felt, or seen on mammo or MRI. I have to pay for a yearly MRI.

anne

Ddw79

It's interesting how each of these insurance companies operates. Mine will not consider an MRI until after US. I don't even know if US makes sense for screening purposes but I will certainly have to pay oo

Anonymous

luckily, US is a whole lot cheaper than MRI (my MRIs are generally about $2300; I think the US is only about 200-300, but I could be wrong, so don't quote me!)

anne

Ddw79

Wow that doesn't sound too bad but I don't think I can pay that kind of $ for an MRI. How is that a high risk screening tool if we have to pay for it? I simply cannot afford tha

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