Confused about Mammo/US Results

[TeeksT]

Hi, I had a diagnostic mammo last week after seeing an area of calcifications that they wanted to check further.  After having diag. mammo done, tech initially told me that radiologist wanted to see me again in 6 months.  Then, radiologist decided he wanted to do an ultrasound too.  Tech did it and radiologist came in later to scan too.  He commented that there were no masses and that my microcalcifications hadn't changed all that much since last year. I have had breast calcifications for some time and had 1 previous call-back for diagn. mammo with benign findings.  My last two screening mammos in 2008 and 2009 showed only benign findings with no call-backs.

However, two days later I get a letter that an abnormality needs to be checked further to decide if it is benign and recommended I followup with my physician (ob/gyn).  I will talk to ob/gyn on Wed, when he returns to office.  Physician tried to call me before he left on vacation, but we missed calls.

I am confused by what was said during my diag. mammo and u/s and what the subsequent letter recommended.  I have no idea what the BI RAD is, but I'm guessing radiologist is recommending a biopsy this time, so probably a BI RAD of 4.

Given that there were no masses seen on the u/s, could it be that he is wanting to confirm what the area of calcifications are?  I think this is a new area that wasn't there last year.  It is nerve-wracking not to be able to talk to my own physician for 6 days.

And the discrepancy between radiologist's comments and his initial recommendation of a 6-month followup, versus the letter suggesting more tests should be done, is driving me crazy.

[japdip]

I was wondering about that and you may well be correct. There is some difference in an immediate "look" at films or US and when they are read for the complete report (all the details). There is also CAD which is a computer assisted program that most institutions use along with the actual "reading" by the Radiologist. This sometimes "alerts" to certain things on a type of comparison system. Hope your Doc can clear things up some on Wed. Oh, by the way I was just thinking,  the letters that went out on that day's filming would have that particular Radiologists name since he/she was the "reading" Radiologist on the schedule. Take care .....

[TeeksT]

Hi and thanks for the quick response.  The form letter had the same radiologist's name at the bottom as the one who reviewed my mammo and u/s.  Only thing I can think is that he decided to be extra cautious in his final recommendation and that is why the letter reads as it does.  Hopefully, I will get all the details when I talk to my ob/gyn on Wednesday.  All I know now is that my diag. mammo was related to calcifications, so I'm guessing the "further testing" relates to them too.

[japdip]

Very often form letters are sent after the final reading and report on films. I would ck. with your Primary Care Physician before getting too upset over the difference in recommendations. It's even possible that the films were read by another Radiologist for the dictation of the final report. I'm sure your Dr. can sort this out for you as he can talk to the Radiologists directly.  Regards ....