Not diagnosed but surgery needed

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Mechq
Mechq Member Posts: 19
edited March 2018 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

I have had a mamogram and ultrasound where archetectual distortion was found near a previously biopsied area monday. There are also several cysts near the area. I am going in for a biopsy tomorrow but was told that the area with the cysts and distortion would need to be removed. I honestly was so surprised it didn't occur to me to ask why I needed surgery to remove it. The radiologist told me there is a 50% chance it is cancer. She told me the area of concern is small. My question is why would she want to remove the area which is the size of a small lemon and why would I still need a biopsy?

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  • ravzari
    ravzari Member Posts: 277
    edited March 2018

    They would want to do a biopsy to confirm that it's cancer before doing a lumpectomy just to avoid a potentially unnecessary surgical procedure.

    They may also have wanted to take one because, just because one area of concern turned out to be a benign cyst, another area might not be a benign cyst even if it 'looks like one'.

    Additionally, it's also standard practice to send a tissue sample taken during a lumpectomy (or even a mastectomy) to pathology to have it looked at again just to make sure the samples don't contain any malignant cells.

    They may want to remove the cysts, even if they're benign, because they're large and could potentially partially obscure or hide an actual malignancy.

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  • Mechq
    Mechq Member Posts: 19
    edited March 2018

    Thsnk you for the reply. I have been reading more to get a better understanding of all this. I was told there is a 50 % chance it is cancer. The AD was picked up on ultrasound and mamogram. So we'll see. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of it.

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