Architectural distortion

NeedPeace,

Yes, architectural distortion might be a sign of breast cancer. But it also might turn out to be nothing serious at all. So don't jump to the worst case scenario.

There have been lots of women through this site who've had biopsies due to architectural distortion, and many have had benign results. Do a search on the board and you'll find some recent cases where this has happened.

And if it is cancer? Here again, don't jump to the worst case scenario. Could it be triple negative? Well, about 10% of diagnoses are (according to the SEER site). But almost 70% of diagnoses are ER+/HER2-. So if you are diagnosed, it is much more likely to be a favorable sub-type.

Take it one step at a time. At this point all you know is that you will be having a biopsy for something that appears to be very small, and that might or might not be cancer. With luck, it's not cancer!

Good luck with the biopsy. When are you having the biopsy?

I'm so sorry about your husband. I completely understand the extra fear you face because of what he went through. And dealing with this alone, and during a pandemic, is pretty awful. I appreciate that you don't want to burden your children at this point in the process. The good news is you've found us and you'll get lot of support here - from people who have gone through the same thing.

When I read your first post, I thought how much your experience sounded like mine. I had my first surgery - an excisional/surgical biopsy to remove a fibroadenoma - when I was 16. This came just a few months after a maternal aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then another surgery for another fibroadenoma at 24. Lots of callbacks and biopsies after that. When I hit peri-menopause, I started to develop cysts; over the years I've had more cysts than I can remember. And yes, after all that, I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 49; this time my diagnosis came just 6 months after my mother's diagnosis (she was 80 when diagnosed). Both of us were Stage IA. It's been over 15 years for both of us, and we're both just fine.

Hopefully the architectural distortion found on your imaging is not cancer - 80% chance of benign is good! But if it is cancer, even with your history (just like mine), and even with what happened to your husband, there is no reason to think that this won't be an early stage easily treatable cancer. Yes, the worst case is always possible, but there is nothing that you've said that seems to lean you in that direction. So don't go there. As the saying goes, don't borrow trouble. Focus on what you know, which is that you have an upcoming biopsy to find out what's going on. You don't know what comes after that - it might be a celebration for getting benign results!

Great news! Congratulations!

My mother was told she had an architectural distortion earlier this month on a routine mammogram that was confirmed by a diagnostic 3d Mammogram. Ultrasound did not show any findings which we learned is a good sign. The report said "no sonographic evidence of malignancy" Birad score 4B (Suspicious findings) She had a stereotactic biopsy done last week. My mom is not someone who typically does well with these things so she asked her pcp to prescribe her a few xanax to calm her nerves and that really helped. The biopsy went very well and she just received the call that it was BENIGN.

This forum was a true God send when dealing with the unknown so I wanted to come on here and share a little bit of information I found.

3D mammograms are extra sensitive in finding architectural distortions. Architectural distortion will always need further investigation so if you are told you need a biopsy that is standard procedure. If a radiologist determines even a 2% risk of possible malignancy they will want to biopsy.

"Architectural distortion on DBT is less likely to represent malignancy if there is no sonographic correlate; however, biopsy is warranted even in the absence of a sonographic correlate, given the nearly 30 percent risk of malignancy in this setting."

The PPV of malignancy in DBT detected AD without an US correlate in our series of 45 cases was 6/45 (13.3%). In the absence of an US correlate, the PPV of AD is lower than that mentioned in prior literature but exceeds the 2% threshold to justify DBT-guided biopsy.

We are pending the pathology report to see what caused it, all we know thus far is the result is benign.

I really want to thank all of you and DJ Mammo who take the time to respond and offer expertise, guidance and reassurance to women who are very concerned. Your stories really helped me navigate through this for my mom and ease my mind when at times the worry was overwhelming.

Not everyone with benign results come back on here with an update so I wanted to create a post and offer some hope for anyone currently in this situation.

Wishing you all the very best.

Thank you so much!