Hi. I can understand your concern that if those lumps are cancer, the condition might progress during the 3 months you have to wait it out. There's really no way of telling for certain how much a cancer will advance if left undiagnosed and untreated for 3 months. On the other hand, having the diagnostic procedures done at this time increases the possibility for both a false positive result (because of the high circulating hormone levels) and a false negative result (because of the milk). Having the mammogram or MRI done now gives you the advantage of getting a diagnosis sooner, but the accuracy of the test result might be questionable.
Thank you much for your replay. As i understood from both radiologist and the surgeon, they are trying to rule out breast cancer. I was told, chances are small, but in case cancer is the cause of the lumps, waiting for 3 months how much can it advance?
Hi. I would tend to agree with the radiologist's opinion to wait for 3 months before re-evaluating again. This is not only because the milk will interfere with the imaging procedures. Another reason is that at 5 weeks post-partum, your body's hormone levels (estrogen and progesterone) have not gone back down to what they were before you were pregnant. The breast lumps that have been noted may only be temporarily enlarged because of the still elevated hormone levels at this time. I can understand your anxiety at this point, but if you want a more definitive and less erroneous test result, I strongly suggest that you wait it out for a few more months before having the tests.