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Suspicious Abnormality Radiologist Should I Worry?
Question: Mammo follow up radiologist wants a biopsy. I asked him what he thought my chances of cancer and he said 94-96% benign shouod I trust this? rounded morphology some appear somewhat faint and heterogenousBI-RADS 4. Suspicious abnormality.should I worry? He said I shouldn’t t be worried about this and he believes this is benign. Is this true? Sounds like probably not cancer? Have been getting mammons since I was 40 and am 48 now and have had mammo FAITHFULLY EVERY YEAR and never been called back to redo a mammo til this year. Please ease my mind? TY
Brief Answer:
The lesion is mildly suspicious and needs a biopsy
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in to us.
Hope you are not in discomfort,
BI RADS is a tool used to classify breast lesions. Often the imaging findings might overlap and appearance is not convincing to classify it as benign (BI RADS 2). Category BI RADS 3 is probably benign and needs to be used with care. The rule is to give a higher grading to any lesion if the doctor is unsure about it being benign and so BI RADS 4 is used and a biopsy is needed.
In BI RADS 4 we have 4a (low suspicion for malignancy), 4b (moderate suspicion for malignancy) and 4c (high suspicion for malignancy) and biopsy is needed for each of the sub categories.
Coming to your report findings, there exists a slight suspicion about the agressiveness of the lesion. Therefore the doctor has chosen BI RADS 4 and likely subcategory 4a. The probability of malignancy in category 4b is more than 2 to less than 10 percent.
Hope I have been able to simplify the technical description of your report.
Please do write back if you need more assistance.
Regards and thanks,
The lesion is mildly suspicious and needs a biopsy
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in to us.
Hope you are not in discomfort,
BI RADS is a tool used to classify breast lesions. Often the imaging findings might overlap and appearance is not convincing to classify it as benign (BI RADS 2). Category BI RADS 3 is probably benign and needs to be used with care. The rule is to give a higher grading to any lesion if the doctor is unsure about it being benign and so BI RADS 4 is used and a biopsy is needed.
In BI RADS 4 we have 4a (low suspicion for malignancy), 4b (moderate suspicion for malignancy) and 4c (high suspicion for malignancy) and biopsy is needed for each of the sub categories.
Coming to your report findings, there exists a slight suspicion about the agressiveness of the lesion. Therefore the doctor has chosen BI RADS 4 and likely subcategory 4a. The probability of malignancy in category 4b is more than 2 to less than 10 percent.
Hope I have been able to simplify the technical description of your report.
Please do write back if you need more assistance.
Regards and thanks,
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
So it sounds like a very low chance of it being malignant then correct?? The radiologist said he def is thinking benign and for me not to worry.
Brief Answer:
Technically 90 percent chances it might be benign
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in to us.
I do believe that the lesion might be a BI RADS 4a as your report mentions it mildly suspicious. The probability of malignancy might be more than 2 to less than 10 percent and almost 90 percent chances it is benign. However biopsy is the best way to get more clarity on the subject.
Regards and thanks,
Technically 90 percent chances it might be benign
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in to us.
I do believe that the lesion might be a BI RADS 4a as your report mentions it mildly suspicious. The probability of malignancy might be more than 2 to less than 10 percent and almost 90 percent chances it is benign. However biopsy is the best way to get more clarity on the subject.
Regards and thanks,
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
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