Had first follow up and need help to understand mammo

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NicolaSue
NicolaSue Member Posts: 111
edited July 2018 in LCIS (Lobular Carcinoma In Situ)

Hi Everyone,

I have LCIS and have had my first follow up mammo so I'm not very experienced yet in the interpretation.

It says "Low density in parenchymal pattern in both breasts. A gel marker is demonstrated in the upper outer quadrant of the right breast. There are no associated features. There are no suspicious findings. Right breast M1, Left breast M1."

Well that's good news but what is a 'parenchymal pattern'? And also they mention a gel marker. I thought the marker I had put in when I had the excision was a metal marker. Is it normal to use a plastic one? And what does M1 mean.

Thanks in advance if anyone is able to help!

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  • leaf
    leaf Member Posts: 8,188
    edited March 2018

    I had to look all of this up, but to me it sounds like:

    a) Low density parenchymal pattern sounds good- I think this means they can see well in the mammo (as opposed to trying to see white objects in a snowstorm. For women with dense breasts, reading a mammogram can be like 'seeing a white object in a snowstorm' - its hard to see abnormalities). https://radiopaedia.org/articles/parenchymal-patte...

    b) It sounds like there are some markers that partly dissolve, in addition to having a metal part, and some can be detected in ultrasounds for a while. http://www.bardbiopsy.com/products/index_markers.p...

    c) It sounds like M1 is normal tissue, used in the UK, ?and other places? http://www.ncuh.nhs.uk/our-services/BAE.pdf

    Sounds like there is nothing to worry about.



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  • NicolaSue
    NicolaSue Member Posts: 111
    edited March 2018

    Leaf, that's really helpful thanks!

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited July 2018

    it means you have low density in both breasts, which is a good thing, because it makes it much easier to see anything on imaging. The gel marker is a little thing they place on the outside of your breast during the mammo, to indicate where your lumpectomy/ excisional biopsy was. (completely different from the internal marker ). Not sure what the M1 stands for, I would guess it is a coordinate of some sort with the mammo views that they take.

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