Mammogram/ ultrasound negative - only dense breasts?

Kate8
Kate8 Member Posts: 12
edited September 2018 in ILC (Invasive Lobular Carcinoma)

I would like to preface my question to acknowledge that maybe this isn't the right place to post this question as this board may be only for those diagnosed with ILC but hopefully some of you don't mind sharing some insight. I know that ILC can often evade detection on mammo and US but I was curious if most of you with that experience have dense breasts?

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  • trinigirl50
    trinigirl50 Member Posts: 343
    edited August 2018

    Yes I had dense breasts, and yes my scans and mammagrams were all clear despite 6x 4cms of area of tumour involvement.

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  • Elisabeth_W
    Elisabeth_W Member Posts: 14
    edited August 2018

    Yes. My breasts have been described in mammogram reports as both dense and extremely dense. My ILC was undetected by mammogram, though found by US and estimated at 6mm. My presurgery MRI also indicated that the mass was 7x6x4 mm. On lumpectomy it was 12 mm. Still very small by ILC standards. At my initial visit, my surgeon said I should that I should be thanking whatever higher power I believed in at least 3 times.

    Breast density definitely has an effect on imaging results. MRI helps with that, but typically won't detect something smaller than 3mm.

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  • dtad
    dtad Member Posts: 2,323
    edited August 2018

    Hi everyone. My ILC was missed on both 3D mammo and U/S. Only picked up on MRI. Yes, my breasts are dense...

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  • livetoday
    livetoday Member Posts: 2
    edited August 2018

    I've been researching alternative screening options and came across researchers using dogs to detect breast cancer. It's a great story and they claim really amazing results. It may be a way to help with anxiety from questions about a mammogram. Here's one of the companies I came across - bioscentdx.com

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  • nash
    nash Member Posts: 2,600
    edited August 2018

    Yes I have dense breasts.

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  • beach2beach
    beach2beach Member Posts: 996
    edited August 2018

    Yes, I had extremely dense breasts >75%. My mammo was clear. My sono showed a 7mm spot which initially the radioligist thought was just my breast tissue. Upon another radiologists view it was biopsied and it was ILC.

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  • dakrock
    dakrock Member Posts: 99
    edited August 2018

    Yes all my mammograms said extremely dense breasts.  I was always called back for a sonogram which showed all was okay until the sonogram in November of 2017.   They recommended a core biopsy which was done and an MRI.  MRI showed a round mass at 3:00 with irregular margins and avid enhancement measuring 1.5 x 1.4 x 1.7 cm saying this is contiguous with an 0.8 cm focus of nonmass enhancement located a 0.6 inferior to the dominant mass at 5-6:00 .  the entire craniocaudal dimension measures 2.9 cm.   Wow I'm not sure why we even need mammograms I say we should be able to go directly to a sonogram.  Three years I was called back for the sonogram when this was obviously growing all the time.  

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

    Yes to dense breasts; I asked and received 2 breast MRIs before I finally went ahead and had my BMX/reconstruction surgery. I didn't trust US or mammo or even a combo of both. My MO said that together they were very reliable, but...I couldn't trust that completely because I had mammos that reported clear, when for mostly likely a few years there was a problem the mammo didn't catch.

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  • Dani444
    Dani444 Member Posts: 522
    edited September 2018

    My mammogram/ultrasound states heterogeneously dense breasts. My mass showed on both mammogram and ultrasound, but was measured differently by both. Ultrasound measured it smaller than mammo. I had a breast MRI that found satellite lesions anterior and posterior to known mass. I am waiting to get a biopsy of these spots to determine treatment options. The measurement on the MRI was closer to the measurement on ultrasound, unless the satellite lesions come back as cancer cells, that makes it even bigger than the mammo measurement.

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  • Faith46
    Faith46 Member Posts: 8
    edited September 2018

    Yes. My breasts were considered dense. Doctors knew there was a problem when breast cancer first appeared in my lymph nodes. Nothing was identified on the or3D mammograms or ultrasound. It was only seen in an MRI.

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  • RyansMomma
    RyansMomma Member Posts: 18
    edited September 2018

    I find it odd how the ultrasound can miss a huge tumor in the breast(s)! Mine was over 6 cm and they looked under my arms and ultrasound even missed the cancer in my lymph nodes. Only an MRI caught my ILC. This cancer is sneaky sneaky. I have dense breasts, I'm only 19 (almost 20.) so it makes sense. I'm curiousif women without dense breasts have this issue too? I have so many questions since I'm still in shock over my diagnosis.

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