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Birad 4A--can I risk waiting 6 mos. to do biopsy?

Birad 4A--can I risk waiting 6 mos. to do biopsy?

Hello, I had a diagnostic mammo today to follow up on some microcalcs. in upper outer quadrant of rt. breast.  I'm 41--this was my 2nd mammo.  First mammo was 6 yrs ago at age 35 w/ film rather than digital.  Today's magnified views yielded an "indeterminate" result, birad 4a, 4mm size area w/ 20-30 tightly clustered microcalcs. Stereotactic biopsy recommended.
Questions: Is it possible these microcalcs. could have always been there & remain unchanged dating back to 2003, but this new tech./machinery is finding things that were previously undetected?
I'm not in a hurry to rush in to a biopsy--my understanding is the odds are this is benign.  I have no known risk factors for bc, and am only 41.  I worry the biopsy procedure could lead to scarring that will make reading future mammos more difficult? It's hard for me to justify having a procedure just because we don't know what something is, and it looks somewhat suspicious.
To complicate matters, my 14 yr. old daughter is having surgery w/ a general anasth. in 8 wks, w/ a 6wk recovery time.  My thinking is that IF I have a biopsy now, and IF it comes back a cancer or precancer, it's probably DCIS, which will then require more surgery and possibly radiation.  I would like to wait 6 mos. until after my daughter is recovered before I start on that merry-go-round.  Even if this IS a worse case situation, is there any downside to waiting 6 mos., and seeing what a follow-up mammo shows?  It doesn't sound likely that this could turn into an invasive breast cancer w/ a poor prognosis in 6 mos?
Thanks!
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Dear tucker319, A birads category of 4a is describing a suspicious looking abnormality that is not characteristic but has a reasonable probability of malignancy, and biopsy could be considered.   The downside to waiting is if this does turn out to be a malignancy there is the possibility of it growing and spreading.  Having the biopsy now at least you would know what you are dealing with and can make a decision based on that information.
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Dear tucker319,
Please don't take this wrong, but I felt a need to reply to your post.  Have a friend wanting to do the same & have told them the same.  I hope you have that biopsy NOW, at a facility that will do all of your staging tests, in the event it is a malignancy.  As one that recently completed bc treatment, I can say the not knowing will get to you while you're waiting for that 6month date to arrive.  My experience is that my mammo was braids category 5 - highly suspicious for malignancy, 15mm on 11/07/07. By 12/11/07 it had grown to 23mm.  This is not meant to scare you, but to let you know that it can happen, it depends on the exact type and grade/stage of malignancy that is found on the biopsy, the only way of knowing for sure.  The scarring issue is not really an issue, a tiny marker is placed, so future mammos will show that.  And healing is no problem, small bandaid is all that's used, very little pain.  Either way it goes, you could have all testing done & over, and be able to relax and focus on your daughter.  Would hate the thought of waiting that long to then finding out it was bc & had progressed during that time.  Please, show your daughter just how strong a women can be and get 'er done.

Good luck and best wishes to you and your daughter.  My thoughts will be with you, woman2woman.
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