Anyone ever hear of a false diagnosis of DCIS after biopsy?

Have you already had a biopsy? I would say that if you haven't, don't get too far ahead of yourself. Imaging alone is not perfect, so biopsy results will give you a clearer idea of how to proceed . Genetic counseling is a great idea, if you have a family history of bc. Try and get as many details of this history from your mom as this will greatly help the counselor in assessing your situation. Good wishes for you.

Caryn

If you've already had a biopsy, I think it would be quite unusual for there to be a false positive. I do hope your mom will be forthcoming with family history, but as a mother, I understand how she feels! This forum is a wonderful place to come for sisterhood and support, so although we wish you didn't have to be here, it's a great comfort for those with all types of bc.

Caryn

Peachygirl, is the size of your tumor 2.5mm or 2.5cm?  Your post says mm but your signature line says cm.

If is it 2.5mm, that's really really tiny.  And something that small can be misdiagnosed.  Sometimes if the number of suspicious cells in the biopsy sample is really small, it can be difficult to distinguish between ADH, a high risk condition, vs. DCIS.  But even with ADH, usually surgery is recommended, because where there is ADH, there can be DCIS.  So one option is to have surgery and then see what the pathology report from the surgery shows.  Alternately, if you could ask for a second opinion on the pathology of your biopsy sample.

Do you have a copy of your pathology report?  That could give hints as to whether it's pretty clear that you have DCIS or whether there might be any question about it. 

And to your specific question, yes, I can think of a number of cases where women were told that their biopsy sample showed DCIS but upon a second review, the assessment was that it was ADH.  It doesn't happen often but it can happen, particularly in cases where the amount of tissue involved is very small.

Peachygirl - The pathology report from a biopsy will report the facts. On the other hand, a mammogram (or ultrasound or MRI) can only identify an area(s) of "suspicion." Is it possible that your mom's stories about what she and her mom had were actually suspicious things on images but that when followed up with additional imagery and/or biopsies, all were benign? 

There are lots of benign things that can show up on mammograms (or ultrasounds or MRIs) -- in otherwords, false positives that under further investigation turn out to be nothing to worry about. After my stereo biopsy confirmed DCIS, my bs sent me for a bilateral MRI, which picked up something in the other (good) breast. So I underwent an MRI biopsy. Turns out I had a false positive MRI, the biopsy revealed not bc but thankfully was just fibrocystic tissue (benign).  But this is a false positive diagnosis of bc BEFORE biopsy.

A positive diagnosis of bc AFTER biopsy is true, unfortunately.  So, no, I have not heard of a false positive diagnosis of DCIS (or IDC) after biopsy.