Do MRI results correlate with final node biopsy?

My MRI did show a satellite tumor that did not show on mammo very close to the 4.5cm mass, however my lymph nodes showed no sign of CA. A BX was positive pre surgery and that node did not uptake the blue dye so during surgery, it was left behind. 6 mo later I returned to that surgeon (who did not do my surgery) and asked her to check to see if the node was still there. She found it via us so I had to have another surgery to remove it.

I decided I don't want a diag. mammo anymore and think an MRI is more appropriate in my case but my onc said too many false positives with MRI so she will not RX it. I guess all the false negatives I got with the mammo is better? I don't get it.

Good Luck with your BC journey

xoxMaureen

I had false negatives with mammo, MRI, and previously on pelvic US.  Mammo did not see my palpable 2cm tumor, MRI did not see the two positive nodes, and the pelvic US did not the 3cm pre-malignant ovarian mass.  Surprise!  I do not image well and this is what tipped me toward a BMX - I had ADH and ALH in the prophy breast on post-op pathology - so correct decision even in light of the reconstructive nightmare that followed.

I assume it is helping him with "clinical staging" if he is not seeing glaringly obvious nodal activity, but your stage will not be definitive until your SNB is looked at in the lab.  Mine was negative in the OR, positive in the lab, I had a ALND surgery five weeks later and they found a much larger positive node .5cm, further up.  I seem to always be the outlier, lol!  My issues are related to recon at this point, but I regard it as a nuisance because I am NED, so I can deal and be patient.  In regards to density, it is disconcerting that different docs looking at the same imaging draw different conclusions - makes it hard to be the patient, right?

I had the opposite happen in that I had 2 lymph nodes that lit up on the MRI and were suspicious for malignancy. But final path after surgery showed no lymph involvement.

Kendra

Yes relieved! I also find it interesting reading others stories, it shows how much bc and everything involved (testing etc) varies so much for each individual.

Kendra

At diagnosis, I had three lymph nodes that were kind of clumped together and surgeon said they looked "matted". After chemo, they looked normal on the MRI (i.e. were back to normal size and no longer matted together). However, in surgery on Friday, the pathologist said they looked suspicious. I don't have the final path report yet but it does sound like they may have still had some cancer going on.

Edited to add: During surgery, they actually removed 10 nodes and 5 were positive.