chest lump craziness

kcat2013

I found a lump high up on my upper chest earlier this spring. That lump was joined by several more lumps in the same area over the course of a few months. I saw my BS, she referred me for an ultrasound. Radiologist #1 noted it as hard to find and get a good image of but said it looked suspicious and needed biopsy. Went for the biopsy and got a different radiologist (same practice as 1st). Radiologist #2 did a very quick ultrasound before biopsy said he couldn't find anything but fat globules (his words) and said no need for biopsy. (As a side note #2 made me feel like an idiot for even being there, even though it was his colleague who had me there) (Another side note, #1 is an older radiologist and #2 is younger) My BS then referred me for an MRI. MRI showed absolutely nothing in the upper chest area, just noted some signal dropout attributed to a surgical clip nearby. Report said the clip could conceivably be palpable. BS said we gained no new or useable information from the MRI. She didn't think it's a clip we are feeling, especially since there are multiple lumps. She did tell me that if it was cancer it "should" have shown up on the MRI, but she feels we can't know for sure without a tissue sample from it. So she wants me to attempt another biopsy scheduled specifically, and only, with radiologist #1. If he can't get a biopsy on it, BS will surgically remove them.

I'm just done with this whole thing. I will get the biopsy done, because I trust my BS's judgement but in the back of my mind I wonder if it's truly necessary since the MRI was negative. Aren't MRIs known more for false positives not false negatives??

tangandchris

Wow talk about the run around.....what would it have hurt the 2nd radiologist to just do the biopsy??

I'm not much help about MRIs, but I know this stuff just gets old and it makes us weary.

keep us posted

kcat2013

Well, the reason for using only the 1st guy is because the 2nd guy refused to biopsy, claiming he couldn't find anything to biopsy. The first one is the one who said the biopsy was needed. It's a mess.

You are right about getting weary of this stuff. I think I'm doing well not having cancer thoughts crowding my mind and then something like this comes up and brings it front and center again.

Thanks for listening!

KBeee

MRIs are not fool proof. I had one after my lump which was assumed to be scar tissue was found to be cancerous. MRI showed nothing else as far as cancer. When they did re-excision surgery, surprise! They found a second small tumor hiding out behind the edge of the pec muscle. So MRI is good, but not fool proof.

kcat2013

Kbee, that must have been a bit of a shock to hear there was a 2nd tumor after surgery. You said yours was a small tumor, I wonder about my lumps because they are quite small, maybe half a centimeter at most for the largest. Maybe they don't show because of size?

KBeee

That's quite possible that they did not show up due to size. Perhaps you could ask how big they have to be to be detected on MRI. I am not sure of the answer.