diagnosing breast cancer

[Fortunate16]

My daughter has suffered for several months with her breasts. She describes a deep inner itch and both nipples are watery, scaly and itchy. She has had a mammogram, 2 ultrasounds, an MRI, and a surgical biopsy with no diagnosis. Is all cancer detected by one of these tests? My sister recently read of a newly discovered cancer with the itch as one of the symptoms. Her next doctor is to be a dermatologist Thank you

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi. The tests you mentioned - mammogram, breast ultrasound and MRI, as well as surgical biopsy are the usual procedures done to verify the presence of breast cancer.  If these tests were done by competent personnel, and the results are negative for cancer, I probably would stand by these results and look for some other cause of your daughter's symptoms.

Some types of breast cancers, particularly Paget's disease, can present with itching in the skin or nipples.  But other more common non-cancerous conditions (e.g. fungal infection and various dermatoses) which can cause itching and scaling of the breasts have to be ruled out first.  Consulting with a dermatologist is the appropriate next step.