mass after lumpectomy

[Kelly 110]

In March, I had a mass removed from my right breast.  The reports came back that it was a Lipoma and surrounding tissue had some fibrocystic changes but other than this -it was normal. The doctor reported that there were many and he could not take them all. About 2 weeks after- I felt the area expecting to feel no mass and to my surprise felt a mass similar in size in the same postion that was supposed to be removed. My first instinct was that he removed the wrong thing but then I remembered that he marked it with a marker before surgery. I contacted the Dr. and the office told me that it was probably scar tissue and to wait for 6 weeks and then call them.  It has been about 8 weeks and the mass still remains- unchanged. My OBGYN scheduled an ultrasound to check this out due to family history
( grandmother passed away at age 27 with breast cancer- mother has had no incidences)I am only 29 years old.  Is it possible for this to be scar tissue or did the mass come back this rapidly? I feel like I am starting all over from when I discovered the intial mass in Jan. I thought that the lumpectomy would pretty much confirm what this is. Please advise. Thank you. Kelly

[CCF-RN,MSN-JS]

Dear Kelly:  A lipoma is a fatty tumor, it is a benign (non-cancerous) finding.  It sounds like the lumpectomy did confirm what was happening at that time, however, now this is a new finding to be evaluated.  Checking back with your surgeon to evaluate this mass, to put it in context of findings from surgery, physical exam and any new information yielded by the ultrasound.  

[surgeon]

Typically healing tissue forms after a breast biopsy and it can often feel similar to the original lump. That makes evaluation of a biopsy site difficult in the first several weeks. Most have resolved or at least melted away some by three months, so when it persists, it raises the possibility of having missed the lump in question: especially if what they found was a lipoma. Given your family history, I'd say you ought to be examined directly by the surgeon; an ultrasound might not give much useful information at this stage in the healing process. In most cases, a persisting lump will turn out just to be scar tissue; but the possibility of re-biopsy needs to be considered.

[Kelly 110]

Thank you for your response.

[Remy]

You might want to ask for a breast MRI. My cancer wasn't detected by mammograms, exams, or ultrasounds. Only because I read an article suggesting women with dense breast or a family history should get the MRI did I request this test which did in fact show 2 cancers.

[Kelly 110]

Thank you for a response. I go to the surgeon on Tuesday. I am anxious to find out what he has to say. That may be my next step- the MRI. Although with mine they already removed the lump( so they say) and it was a Lipoma. I just do not know why I would still have a palpable mass at that site. Thanks again for your sugggestion. I will consider this.