Vague US and MRI reports

The one person here that could probably answer your question is djmammo, and he's taking a break currently. However, I'll try to take a stab at it. A well-circumscribed mass is one that appears to have a line drawn around it. BIRADs 4 indicates roughly 3-25% level of suspicion. Roughly 80% of the masses that are biopsied will be completely benign, so your chances are fairly high that it's good news. Of course, that means there is about a 20% chance that it's malignant, so we'll cross our fingers on that.

The wonderful thing about breast imaging is that we don't have to interpret them ourselves. We pay radiologists to do that. Try not to to worry too much about reading your own imaging. The fact that it's BIRADs 4 and not 5 (95%risk of cancer/5% benign) is encouraging.

Hi, Hopeful. Like yours, my report was a bit vague. My “spot" was a bit vague, as well. I drove myself bananas Googling the terms in my report. “Dense tissue, irregular, ill-defined, slightly echoic area of concern"... it all sounded terrible to me.

I couldn't imagine those concerning characteristics being anything but something awful. The thing is, as a layperson, I can't truly understand how it fits together in the mind of a trained professional. I was given a Bi-rads 4a. Most likely benign but suspicious. Something like 6-13% chance of malignancy for 4a, and as I think someone else said, 20% overall for 4 (a,b, and c combined). 80% of breast biopsies are benign. Try to remember that when you're scared.

Well-circumscribed is basically the opposite of ill-defined. It means that the area of concern has abrupt and clear margins to the tissue around it. Mine sort of faded into the surrounding tissue, hence “ill-defined".

My radiologist reminded me that regardless of suspicion or expectation of benign results, only the biopsy could tell and all we could do was wait for the results.

Do try to find something that can keep your mind busy if you're able. It's difficult, but I think if I had done that, my wait would have been a bit less torturous. Ativan or Valium isn't a bad idea, either. I have a script for it already for anxiety but I never take it. By the day my results came in, I was rummaging through my house trying to find the bottle I had and hoping it hadn't expired! I had just found it and was considering taking some when the call came. My results were benign fibrocystic changes. I have very lumpy, fibrous breasts, which is concerning but I’m trying not to dwell on that.

Hoping for a smooth procedure and benign results for you!