Two small speculated masses is that worse than one big mass?

Hi Catdreamer,

I am sorry you are here and waiting for biopsy results. First, your odds are still 50/50 which is good, let's hope it is not. If both lesions turned out to be cancerous they call it multi-focal cancer and it is quite common. I had two small cancers and the treatment is not significantly different.

I hope it turns out to be benign

I had a similar situation as you. The mammogram and ultrasound showed one mass but so I had to do an ultraound guided biopsy. The machine was positioned in a way that I could watch the screen, so the radiologist showed me the mass she was concerned with. I also had a cyst that was in front of all this so she showed me the round edges of the cyst compared to the jagged edges of the mass. She also looked at my lymph nodes and saw something suspicious so she biopsied that also. When I got the path report, the mass was positive for IDC cancer <2 cm but the lymph node was benign.

My breast surgeon was all set to do a lumpectomy but he ordered an MRI and chest xray to rule out anything else. The MRI showed a deeper mass of DCIS <2cm.

It seemed like the size together is what he considered. So we were working with a close to 4 cm mass. He also examined my breast and said I didn't have enough tissue to just do the lumpectomy so he recommended a mastectomy.

Not sure If I answered your question. Let me know if you need clarification. Good luck to you. Praying for good results.

was it microcalcufications? My radiologist also gave me those exact percentages, and my mass, which was not palpable, was a cluster of microcalcifiations, indicative of DCIS. She wasn't unfortunately correct. I did have DCIS.

BUT, hold on to the fact that, from what I've read on hear, a very high percentage of biopsies come back B9. Hoping for those results for you as well. Gentle hugs. Waiting is for the birds. Try to do something semi-productive, if you can. I know all too well it's terribly hard waiting.

so sorry you've joined our club Catdreamer! Deciding what treatments to do will basically be informed by the details (some of which you gave above, some not) like receptor status, combined size of the idc, and additional imaging (like ct scan etc), genetic testing (if you have family history or are below a certain age), and or genomic testing of your bc (you may have heard of the Oncotype or Mammaprint testing) that may be ordered at your next appointment. Each of the specialists will have their area of treatment to discuss with you and will review with you your specific case details, the risk your bc poses to you (risk of recurrence) and what their intervention would mean in terms of risk reduction offered vs risk of the intervention itself. (i.e. rads have risks, but the reduction in recurrence risk typically outweighs the risk represented by the rads themselves; typically after lx, but not mx). If you don't have a specific person that you want with you at your appointments to take notes, you may want to ask if you can record the information for your future review. It is awfully overwhelming at first and difficult to take in and remember all of the details. Starting a binder with your images and reports can also be helpful. You can keep a section with your questions and actually add answers (or options) as you get them. There will be many others coming to help give you more specific info, but joining the IDC forum could be a good start to getting you connected with them. Sending you warm ((hugs))