Irregular shaped lesion found on right axillan, advice needed

[Morel012212]

Good day everyone,

My sis(age 39) went for the Ultrasonic test last week and below is the report, I truly appreciate if any kind soul can explain or interprete it to us in layman terms, and most importantly how high the chances are for the lesion to be malign. She will go for biospy soonest but we would like to find out whta the chances are, its going to be a painful time while waiting for the result.

quote:

In the right axilla, there is a palpable 15 x 13 x 11mm irregular mixed hypoechoic and isoechoic lesion, with suggestion of hyperechoic rims, with no evidence of vascularity. There is mild posterior acoustic shadowing.

No suspicious finding in the right breast and other areas. Birad :4

Unquote.

Thanks.

Morel (Singapore)

[zouzi]

You are welcome,
I have no idea about the percentage,but all I can tell you is that an irregular lesion is suspicious and needs to be biopsied.Benign lesions as well as malignant ones can also occur in the armpit area, where there is more breast tissue.
I wish I could tell you more,but as I mentioned before,it's impossible to even guess what the abnormality could be before a biopsy is performed and the tissue analyzed by a Pathologist..
Keep in mind that very often biopsies done on lesions with a BIRADS score 4 turn out benign and I hope the same for your sister.
Best wishes and good luck!...

[Morel012212]

thanks zouzi for your time and reply.
one thing i would like to know is that what is it normal for a benign to have irregular edge? if so, what is the percentage?

and, i've searched on web and found that its a very rare case for a cancerous tomur found on axilla only but not on the breast (occult breast cancer), is this true?
thanks.

[zouzi]

Hi,
I can only try to explain a few things…But it’s your sister’s Doctor who would be able to fully explain the terms used on her Ultrasound report.The most important features on a breast ultrasound, are the edges of the lesion margins. If the edges are irregular, then it is possible that it could be cancer, but it’s also possible that it could be benign.The characteristics of no blood flow (vascularity) is a good sign, since cancer grows at a faster rate than the surrounding tissue and thus would have increased blood flow.
BIRADS category 4 means that the abnormality is suspicious,but not very,otherwise the score would have been 5.
It’s impossible,even for an experienced Radiologist to know for sure what the suspicious lesion may represents unless a biopsy is performed and the tissue examined by a pathologist to obtain a correct diagnosis.
We all know that the waiting for the results is very stressful, but there is nothing we can do….
It's important to keep busy as much as possible during this time,so the waiting will seem shorter.
Hoping that all goes well for your sister and best wishes to both of you.