Suspicious breast calcification

Loveadiandjunebug

hi, so 3 weeks ago I had my normal yearly mammogram, came back suspicious, microcalcifications, had another " close look " mammogram ", which turned out not so good now i need a biopsy, very scared, of course. 5 years ago i had a "scare ", but after 3, 6 month mammograms, all was well. Now calcifications are in a different area. I already suffer from anxiety, so this is awful for me. I understand that many people have BC, and that little kids get diagnosed daily with cancer..:( i know that it's life, per say.. nothing is guaranteed.. trying my best to stay positive.

I was told birads 4, which I understand isn't the " worst", but also not the best. " they" said the microcalcifications are " different " than my other ones, hence the reason for a biopsy.

My parents both died young, mom 50, colon cancer, dad, 57, lung Cancer. So... maybe you can understand .why I'm beside myself. I go EVERY year for mammograms, physicals, and every 5 years for colonoscopy, per my Dr's recommendation.

Trying hard to not look for the rain, when the sunshine is in front of me.

AliceBastable

You might need to move this to a more appropriate thread; I don't know if many people will notice it here. This is where the moderators and experts post information for people who have already been diagnosed.

Beesie

Good that you started your own thread (to my previous post in reply to your other posting). This forum is for Mods posts only; I'm sure they will drop by and move this to the "Not Diagnosed but Worried" forum.

Get yourself a hard copy (or on-line copy) of the imaging reports. You always should get and keep copies of these reports.

The following website has a lot of information about calcifications. Based on how the calcifications are described on your report, you can see where you fit relative to the degree of risk. About 2/3 of the way down the above webpage, you come to the section on Suspicious Calcifications.

Differential of Breast Calcifications

And this webpage, Bi-RADS for Mammography and Ultrasound explains what a BIRADs 4 means, and also talks about which calcs would be BIRADs4:

BI-RADS 4

Suspicious Abnormality - Biopsy Should Be Considered:

This category is reserved for findings that do not have the classic appearance of malignancy but are sufficiently suspicious to justify a recommendation for biopsy.
BI-RADS 4 has a wide range of probability of malignancy (2 - 95%).

Suspicious morphology

• Amorphous (BI-RADS 4B)
  So small and/or hazy in appearance that a more specific particle shape cannot be determined.
• Coarse heterogeneous (BI-RADS 4B)
  Irregular, conspicuous calcifications that are generally between 0,5 mm and 1 mm and tend to coalesce but are smaller than dystrophic calcifications.
• Fine pleomorphic (BI-RADS 4C)
  Usually more conspicuous than amorphous forms and are seen to have discrete shapes, without fine linear and linear branching forms, usually < 0,5 mm.
• Fine linear or fine-linear branching (BI-RADS 4C)
  Thin, linear irregular calcifications, may be discontinuous, occasionally branching forms can be seen, usually < 0,5 mm.

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Distribution of calcifications

The arrangement of calcifications, the distribution, is at least as important as morphology.
These descriptors are arranged according to the risk of malignancy:

1. Diffuse: distributed randomly throughout the breast.
2. Regional: occupying a large portion of breast tissue > 2 cm greatest dimension
3. Grouped (historically cluster): few calcifications occupying a small portion of breast tissue: lower limit 5 calcifications within 1 cm and upper limit a larger number of calcifications within 2 cm.
4. Linear: arranged in a line, which suggests deposits in a duct.
5. Segmental: suggests deposits in a duct or ducts and their branches.

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With calcifications, generally the risk of cancer is 20% - 30%. So the odds are in your favor that the biopsy results will be benign. When is your biopsy?

Loveadiandjunebug

thanks for all the info.🙏

My biopsy is set for 8/20.