Tomosynthesis assisted biopsy: would they have found more?

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PurpleCat
PurpleCat Member Posts: 358
edited September 2018 in Waiting for Test Results

Summary: I have dense tissue that "may obscure small masses." Screening mammogram found calcifications, leading to further testing including a number of 3D tomosynthesis pictures, which I assume were of the entire breast but am not certain. They said these new images look good, but I'm not sure what that means.

Detail: My regular screening 2D mammogram came back dense tissue and also with possible calcifications, so they called me back for additional images. The spot compression wasn't conclusive, so they did a stereotactic biopsy using a tomosynthesis machine. I have no idea how many images they took during the procedure, both 2D and 3D, but it was quite a few. After the procedure I had to wait around a bit, but was finally dismissed with something like "The doctor says the images look good, you can go."

I'm wondering what they were looking for in the images that got "these look good." Was it just that they were good quality pictures that didn't need to be retaken? This center uses all digital equipment, and I'm quite sure they verified the image quality while I was still in the machine, so that seems sort of redundant.

Were they verifying that they got what they needed to get and that the marker was in place? They did that while I was still in the room too.

Here's what I'm hoping it means, because it would be so reassuring: that they took a good look at all these high quality images, including the new 3D ones, and verified that there was nothing else that needed any investigation. It seems entirely possible that they would have had time to do that while I was in the recovery area, because it's all digital technology, and also because it's one of those one-stop centers where they really minimize waiting and do their best to send you home with answers.

Basically ... if anything else had shown up on those procedural images, they would have told me before I left, right? So since they didn't tell me, I can assume that the only thing I have to worry about is the calcifications they already biopsied?



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