Nodular / Dense Breasts

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worried11
worried11 Member Posts: 10
edited June 2014 in High Risk for Breast Cancer

Can someone tell me what exactly this means...... Faint Nodular Densities in Right Breast are Less Apparent???

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  • worried11
    worried11 Member Posts: 10
    edited May 2012

    Pathology reports states I have "pre-dominantly' fatty  dense breast.  Shouldn't they be able to provide a % of density?  This is the same breast where they did sterotactic biopsy from because they found 2 nodular densities that are well circumscribed measuring 4 and 7 mm 5cm from nipple.

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  • crystalphm
    crystalphm Member Posts: 1,138
    edited May 2012

    I found I needed a MRI for a better diagnosis, and I was shocked no one ever told me that. I had been getting mammograms for 18 years, I was always told i had dense breast tissue, but no one ever told me what to do.

    Now I know, a dye-contrast MRI is often indicated for women with very dense breast tissue.

    I have never been told a % of density, the way it was finally described to me is dense tissue shows up as white, and so does calcium or cancer...so it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

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  • Fergy
    Fergy Member Posts: 114
    edited June 2012
    crystalphm,  I have heard it said that it is like looking for a polar bear in a snow storm.  Tongue out  I think that is a better analogy.
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  • MMac
    MMac Member Posts: 31
    edited June 2012

    Hi.  I was never told I had dense brest tissue, but after 18 years of mammograms with an occasional ultrasound, they finally caught the cancer.  Onc said it had been there for about 9 years.  Why don't they tell women with dense breas tissue they need an MRI or even a biopsy when they see somethiing suspicious but don't think it's cancer?

    Mary

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  • Sommer43
    Sommer43 Member Posts: 600
    edited June 2012

    Here in the UK, with pain, or lumpy breasts, which I have had for years, breast density is never mentioned, as is fibrocystic breasts.  We are told "you have lumpy breasts" 

    I have had to learn about it all myself from here. 

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  • Hopes
    Hopes Member Posts: 2
    edited June 2012

    Wow!  Nobody told me about MRI either.  They just said my breasts were the most difficult type to screen. 

    They probably don't tell us about it because the insurance companies probably won't pay for it.

      As soon as I have money, I'm paying for an MRI myself! 

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  • worried11
    worried11 Member Posts: 10
    edited June 2012

    I'm really thinking about going to see a specialist.  This all started when I had yellow discharge from my nipples.  Now not so much the left anymore.  But the right gives me trouble all the time.  Unexplained pain, tenderness, itching, wetness, heaviness.  So when I bring these items to their attention...all they say is 'it's no big deal'; 'hmmm it's nothing to worry about'.  Ugghh. 

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  • crystalphm
    crystalphm Member Posts: 1,138
    edited June 2012

    It is always worth it to see a specialist if you are worried. First, why spend your precious days worrying when a specialist can explain exactly what is going on.

    And secondly, they all said i was fine too, until the biopsy and then everyone was scrambling. Like the other post above, they said i must have had this cancer 5 to 8 years...and every year i had a great mammogram.

     Get it checked out, you deserve the peace of mind!

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  • SimplyAudrey
    SimplyAudrey Member Posts: 242
    edited June 2012

    To be honest, there is no good test currently for breast tissue density (mine has been estimated at greater than 75% by digital mammogram/ultrasound and needle biopsy.....we joked during that procedure that I had kevlar for breast tissue).  I had a 3 cm tumor present that didn't even show on mammogram.  Further testing was done only because I (and others) could feel it, along with the cysts that are always present (fibrocystic breasts).  What alerted me was it felt different than the others.

    Density as a risk factor is just coming to light.......it seems new risk factors and options are discovered alot lately.

    But dense breast tissue does make it harder to see some atypical findings on mammograms, even digital. 

    I highly recommend a breast  specialist if you are in doubt.  It's your body, your mind.....and YOUR LIFE.

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  • Sommer43
    Sommer43 Member Posts: 600
    edited June 2012

    I have just received my full pathology reports and I have mixed density breasts bilaterally. 

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