After DCIS am I doomed to biopsies every 6 mos?

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Quirky74747
Quirky74747 Member Posts: 16
edited August 2016 in DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)

I had a biopsy last week and the results just came back benign (I am SUPER relieved and thankful!). It was for micro calcifications that showed up on mammo of the right breast...just like what happened a year ago in the left breast but showed up as DCIS. I had a lumpectomy and am on tamoxifen and all was well for 6 months. My first followup diagnostic mammo on the left showed micro calcifications in a different area and they biopsied. Benign. Now here I am at the year mark of the DCIS and another biopsy. Don't get me wrong...I would rather have to get a biopsy and have the good news of it being benign rather than another DCIS dx and more surgery...maybe even radiation or deciding on mastectomy. But going through one every 6 months and the worry that goes with it is not my idea of fun. Is this just par for the course if you have a previous DCIS dx and your breasts seem to have or develop lots of these micro calcifications? I'll talk more to my MO at my next appt., but thought someone might have some ideas...

Thanks!

Kirsten

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  • Anne888
    Anne888 Member Posts: 58
    edited August 2016

    Quirky, I've had calcifications in both breasts since my first mammo at the age of 40. Then when I was 51 my annual mammo showed a change in one of the groups of calcs. The arrangement of this group of calcifications, along with the fact that they had changed at all was an indication of cancer. I had a stereotactic needle biopsy, and sure enough, every one of the samples that was removed was cancer - DCIS. I had a mastectomy (2001) and have had no other scares, in spite of the fact that the other breast is still full of calcifications. I have to trust that the radiologists know what they're looking at. So my experience hasn't been biopsies every 6 months. Maybe at this point they're just being really careful with you?

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  • Lisey
    Lisey Member Posts: 1,053
    edited August 2016

    It really depends on your breasts... If you are dense, they can absolutely miss things... Dense breasts sometimes need an ultrasound to even pick up an IDC, (I was labeled clear by the mammagram, and only when I insisted on an ultrasound did they find it).

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