MRI Guided Biopies . . .

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Britt
Britt Member Posts: 731
edited June 2014 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

I have just been scheduled for three MRI guided biopsies at 8am on New Year's Eve (surgery 1/9/09) - has anyone experienced this procedure?  My BS wants to biopsy some tiny things that came up on my breast MRI.  How is an MRI guided biopsy different than a needle or core needkle biopsy?

Thanks for any info you may have -

Britt (already stocking up on champagne)

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  • wishiwere
    wishiwere Member Posts: 3,793
    edited December 2008

    It will still remove core samples, only the needle is guided by the machines grids.  You'll lay face down with your hands extended over your head on the table and your breast extending down through two holes in the table.  Your affected breast will be squished not unlike a mammo, but less pain with clear paddles that have grids on them.  They'll use foam pieces to make you as comfortable as possible.  You'll likely have an IV in for contrast, if they've not done a MRI yet and that will be done first.  AFter the MRI, you are pulled out and left on the table and the table is raised.  The doc is next to the table you are on and uses the grids that are compressing your breast to locate the areas to be bx.  I had 11 taken, and it actually removed all of the 1cm ILC/LCIS that was there.

    If you are the least bit apprehensive and or caustrophobic, ask for meds to help with this before you go, as many have found this helps a lot. ME included. One little 25mg xanax helped a lot before I left for the appt an hour away.

    Good Luck to you~

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  • auriga
    auriga Member Posts: 315
    edited December 2008

    Hi Britt,

    I had to have one of those. It is not bad at all. You lay down on your stomach and put your boobs through two openings. Just like in a normal MRI, they insert the dye and then you go in the tube for them to take pictures. You then come back out of the tube then the radiologist did a core biopsy. She had numbed me very well because I felt no pain whatsoever. Just slight pressure. I was surprised when she told me she was done, because I could hardly feel anything. Then they insert the metal clip, you have a mammo done, and you're finished. There was some slight soreness afterwards, but I just used an ice pack for the rest of the day.

    This was done on a second tumor that was found. I had a core biopsy done on my original tumor by a different doctor and that one was very painful.

    Hopefully, yours will be a breeze like mine was.

    Wishing you good luck

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  • dlb823
    dlb823 Member Posts: 9,430
    edited December 2008

    Hi, Britt ~  Yes, I've also had this procedure, and all I can say is, thank God for the hi-tech age we're living in where they can find these tiny lesions that would not have been found nearly so early in the past!   Mine were so small that the MRI guided biopsy totally removed one of two they were after.  Wishiwere has described the procedure for you, but I also remember being moved in and out of the MRI machine several times, and also feeling very woozy by the time I got up off the table -- probably from the stress of the whole thing.  So, the suggestion to take something or ask for something before the procedure is probably an excellent idea.  (I hadn't.)  Also, I don't think I could have safely driven right after it, so hopefully, you'll have someone go with you.  Good luck, and I'll be thinking about you.   Deanna 

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  • wishiwere
    wishiwere Member Posts: 3,793
    edited December 2008

    Strange how different experiences are, Auriga.  My U/S guided by the BS was painless, and I watched it on the monitor, np.  The MRI guided was painful as it was deep.  I remember at one point the assistant was basically sitting on my back to keep me from pulling up!  I guess there wasn't enough numbing action hey?  And I bled for about 45 mintues after, so here I laid in a room with this nurse or aide applying pressure to my breast to stop the bleeding. It wasn't so painful I cried, but hurt like hell-0~  I did though, just read about the docs at that place and I am pretty sure this person that did mine was someone learning how to do them and not the original doc that was ordered to.  So, perhaps I was a guinea pig for this woman :(

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited December 2008

    Thanks, ladies -

    Since I already had a contrast breast MRI, I wonder if they will use the contrast again.  Fortunately, I am already on Xanax so that will be a great help - and Deanna, it certainly sounds hopeful that they would be able to remove a tiny nodule at that time - they found three very tiny ones - and I agree about modern technology.  Yes, my mom will accompany me to the procedure - and wishiwere, what an experience!  Of course, I am prepared for anything . . .

    Thanks again and blessings to all -

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  • bee5467
    bee5467 Member Posts: 112
    edited December 2008

    I had the same thing, Britt.  I don't remember getting a contrast shot that day . . . It was more scary and weird than painful.  The good thing was that the BS knew exactly where to go, and it saved a lot of extra digging around.  I'll be thinking of you.

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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited December 2008

    Hey Britt!

    Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this kind of like the regular ole contrast dye MRI for that stage of it? If they have to do that again, you already know you can survive it. Just don't get the sugar shakes and you'll be okay! ;) 

    I had core biopsy already and the second stage of this sounds a lot like that, but with the grid system they used prior to my lumpectomy added. (Wire something or other, I forget.) Those who have had it--am I wrong about the similarities?

    If I'm not wrong, Britt, it is not worse than the contrast MRI by any means. Different. But not worse. If I'm right, and somebody tells me so, I'll happily give you the play by play. Just don't want to confuse you if I'm wrong. ;)

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  • Lories
    Lories Member Posts: 351
    edited December 2008

    I just had an MRI on Christmas Eve. It was not a biopsy, but, the nurses at our hospital rountinely give Xanax - it chills you out and helps you to lie still.  They said that they had so many MRI's get messed up because people move or breathe erratically.  It really helped, so if you are worried, ask for the drugs, just be prepared to have a driver. 

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited December 2008

    Hi Webbie -

    Yes, during my initial core needle biopsy they enbedded a wire on the tumor so it could be easily found (it's so damn big at 3.6cm, how can they miss is?)  But there it is - yes, they will use the grip system.

    Heard it's not really so bad . . . .

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  • bee5467
    bee5467 Member Posts: 112
    edited December 2008

    Britt & Webbie  . . .

    Yep, it just sounds creepier than h*ll. 

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited December 2008

    Bee -

    Exactly!  Here I am, walking about with this wire in my right boob . . . I wonder if that renders me vulnerable to any kind of magnetic force?Cool

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  • Lories
    Lories Member Posts: 351
    edited December 2008

    or dinging at the airport or metal detectors?? Don't mind me, I am thinking of my upcoming guide wire - hey I got unlocked!!! 

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited December 2008

    Hi Lories -

    Yes, that's another fun possibility!  Glad you were finally unlocked!

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  • bee5467
    bee5467 Member Posts: 112
    edited December 2008

    Britt - I had three wires coming out . . . to be followed immediately by lumpectomies.  One of my angels (a nurse from the hospital who had had a mast. and helped me for months) came in to see how I made out with the MRI stuff.  She looked at the wires, and said, "We have to stablize these incase someone knocks into her!"  So she taped three styrofoam cups over the wires.  I WISH I had had someone take photos of my poor boob.  It looked like Mr. Potato Head gone wild.!!!!

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited December 2008

    Bee -

    You have cheered me up with that visualization!  I am having a very despondent day with all the waiting - and I don't mean to minimize what you went thorough - but that's all I need for my poor boob - the lovely little thing turning into a Mr. Potato Head! On New Year's Eve!

    Anyway - my surgery is on for 1/9 and this MRI is to determine if the little nodes found in the initial breast MRI and barely detected in the unlateral ultrasound are actually full of nasty cancer cells - it's being done as I mentioned previously on New Year's Eve at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am at the radiology center - SO - if indeed they are positive in the left breast and in thre right (where the Happy Tumor resides) I will be getting a bilateral mastectomy.  Not a happy thing to look forward to. But - thanks for the laugh!!!! You have really helped me out of my funk today!

    Best of luck and blessings and have a great day!

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  • bee5467
    bee5467 Member Posts: 112
    edited December 2008

    Britt -- I'll be with you in spirit. . . I had to wait thru Thanksgiving & Christmas for my surgery.  And my damn surgeon was 30 mins. late getting there at Dark in the am (6:30).  Boy, was I mad.  I'll tell ya one thing . . . the waiting and not knowing is way worse than the surgery.  Keeping everything crossed for you, and all the other wonderful ladies here. 

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited December 2008

    Hi Bee -

    Just like me - waiting through The Holidays this year - with the Stay of Execution (surgery originally scheduled for 12/16 then postponed to 1/9) catapulting me from great relief to the Dark Limbo of Impatience - kept going out and prancing about in cleavage-bearing tops (figured I might as well show them off as long as I had them, before I have to possibly bid them a reluctant and sad farewell) - now too down to even want to go out at all.  I am forcing myself to venture out tomorrow and get my nails done and a pedicure - then a hair appt on Tues - then the Procedure on Wed - a little pampering before I will be down for a while . . . thanks for the good wishes!  Time to don another CB top and finish reading the NY Times - again, thanks for the laugh and for your commiseration!

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  • Carolina59
    Carolina59 Member Posts: 232
    edited December 2008
    Britt,
    I just posted to you on the Am I Missing Something thread. Just want to add that I too found the MRI biopsy painful. It seems like they had to go pretty deep into one of the areas (two areas had been identified), and I kept telling them the local anesthesia was NOT working. I think I took a valium before the procedure. Anyway, you get through it, and thank God they are doing this now otherwise they would not have found the cancer in my other breast. 
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  • Carolina59
    Carolina59 Member Posts: 232
    edited December 2008

    Why do some of my posts come out gray and italisized? It's so annoying and I can't edit it away.

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited December 2008

    Hi Carolina -

    Just a question: did they prescribe painkillers for you afterwards?  My first core needle biopsy hurt like hell, and all I had was Advil, which did NOTHING.  Also, did you opt for immediate reconstruction?

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited January 2009

     I am going to totally honest about my MRI guided breast biopsies experience last Wednesday.

    IT WAS TOTAL HELL.  I was there from 7:30 am until 1pm (when I arrived home).  Thank God my BS called in a prescription for Vicodin the day before, which Mom picked up while she was waiting in the waiting room -

    Ok - here's what happened:  they had 3 biopsies to do.  I had to lie in that accursed machine with my arms pinned to my sides (because one of the nodes in the left breast was way back by my armpit)  - did not have a reaction to the contrast stuff, since I ate protein and whole grains for breakfast.

     The procedure involved taking pictures to find out where the stuff is - and they found nothing again in the right breast, so only two biopsies to be done on the left. Pictures taken, then staff and radiologist dr. confer - then they come back - more pix - then they confer (today's music was New Age - what I call "Ambien Music")

    Time for first biopsies - NEEDLE RIGHT NEXT TO NIPPLE!  OH MY GOD THE PAIN!!!!!!  Then the clamping of the breast (ouch again - imagine one of those plastic hair clamps on your breast) and the taking of the samples, which is done with a rather noisy suction machine.  During this process, they hit a vein - LOTS of bleeding.  Extra 20 minutes to staunch the bleeding.

    Now it's time for Biop #2 - since it was in such an awkward spot, they took a half hour to make sure they could do it - and thankfully they could - THE NEEDLE WAS A KILLER - right in my lower chest cavity (yes, I was sufficiently numb for both) - then the clamping again, then the suction, then it's all over.

    This took about three and a half hours.  My poor mom.  One of the nurses was kind enough to keep going into the waiting room to tell her what was going on.

    So I'm done and after all of this, I have to get a mammogram!!!!!

    Sharon, the mammo tech, was a doll.  She was also to properly dress my breast with the surgistrips, and give me the ice packs and after procedure instructions.  It's now around 12:00.

    All of a sudden, I was gushing blood from where they went into the vein - Sharon said it is a hematoma (what fun - it gets better, believe me).  We try to staunch it with pressure and ice, but it just got worse.  Sharon summoned the radiologist, who explained that there are so many little veins in that area that it was quite common for this to happen.  Yeah, right - well, Sharon goes out to tell Mom about it - and of course my mother is imagining the worst. 

    We finally got the bleeding under control. Wishiwere, it was so similiar to your experience.

     It's now 12:40 pm.  Sharon decides to put a very strong pressure bandage over the surgistrips, and to wrap my entire breast area with an Ace bandage to keep the pressure on.  Cannot wear a bra.  My right breast is peeking out of the bandage at a cockeyed angle, and my poor left breast is scrunched and looks as if it is peeking out, looking for safe haven somewhere - anyway, I am to go back there today for them to remove the bandages - but it's a HUGE hematoma . . .

    It throbs quite a bit, even with the Vicodin.

    So - that's it.  Happy New Year!!!!

    This was the WORST procedure I have ever been through.  The absolute worst.  I was so stiff having to lie in that position - thankfully one of the nurses kept giving me shoulder and back massages!

    Suddenly, I'm not so scared of the surgery anymore.  Can't possibly be that much worse than this - even the SNB!

    But I'll get the results on Monday.

    If I have to have another test between now and 1/9, I am going to have a fit!

    Also, my only pre-op test required this time is bloodwork, which I'm having done on Monday.

    Believe me, it was NO picnic!

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  • bee5467
    bee5467 Member Posts: 112
    edited January 2009

    Awwwwwww, darn, Britt!

    Really sorry to hear you had to go through so much.  Hugs to you. 

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited January 2009

    To all:

    Feeling a bit better, but not yet up to par - went to radiology center for the change of dressing yesterday - told to take it easy for a month - no heavy lifting, etc. due to hematoma - not released to take a shower until tomorrow (since it is still bleeding a bit).

    But - despite the pain - I do believe the procedure will have been worth it if they are able to diagnose the suspicious nodes either as positive or negative - and then the type of surgery I will have on 1/9 will be determined.

    Thanks for everyone's commiseration and good wishes!

    Maria

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  • MicheleS
    MicheleS Member Posts: 937
    edited January 2009

    Britt~

    I also found the MRI-guided biopsy to be the worst of all of the icky procedures thus far...  I had it done 1/2/09.  I think it all has to do with location...  I was also soooo dissapointed because I was on my way to surgery (lumpectomy + node biopsy) when they re-routed  me to MRI and told me surgery was canceled (because of this *new* mass).  I was devastated (still am).

    I should find out the results of this biopsy Mon 1/5.  Praying it is an incidental/non-cancer related finding... <sigh>

    Michele 

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited January 2009

    Hi, Michelle -

    Sorry you had to suffer through this "icky procedure also" -I, too, find out the results tomorrow, 1/5.  Too bad that you were on your way to surgery and then they decided to do the MRI . . . what an emotional trauma!  Please keep me posted as to your results.  Many hugs and positive thoughts, Maria.

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  • MicheleS
    MicheleS Member Posts: 937
    edited January 2009

    Britt~

    Same with you.  Let me know about your results.  I hate that you are here too but I find it comforting that there's someone else out there in almost my *same* position.  {{hugs}}

    Michele 

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited January 2009

    Michelle -

    Let's hope and pray whatever they found are benign . . . my surgery was also postponed from 12/16 because of the irregularities in my initial breast MRI.  The waiting is like being in limbo. However, my BS is very conservative and wanted ever possible test done prior to surgery, to prevent the possibility of additional surgeries should something else be discovered during the initial lumpectomy/SNB.  So actually, despite the awful timing of your MRI-guided biopsy, in the long run I think it is best to find out everything that may be brewing in the breasts before the first surgery.  Easier said than done, I know!  I agree with you about this procedure being the worst.  I am still recovering from it!  So - here's are wish for today - all benign, and clear margins during surgery, with no node involvement!  Lots of hugs and many positive thoughts being sent your way -

    Maria

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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited January 2009

    Will be thinking of both of you tomorrow as your results come in. Lories too--her surgery is then.

    Best wishes to all of you!!!!!!! All benign, clear margins and NO NODES!!!! (ER+,PR+ too for you who don't know yet!)

     Love,

    Web

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  • Britt
    Britt Member Posts: 731
    edited January 2009

    Hi, Webbie -

    Thanks for the good wishes!  And Lori - my thoughts and prayers are with you tomorrow - as Webbie said, here's to clear margins and no nodes!!!!!!

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  • fairy49
    fairy49 Member Posts: 1,245
    edited January 2009

    Britt, Michelle and Lories, good luck tomorrow, I will be praying and think of you all.

     Big Hugs,

    Lorraine ox

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