Hi everyone,
I’m a newbie here. I would be most grateful to hear from anyone who has had or has got multi-duct spontaneous bloody nipple discharge, e.g. what did the discharge turn out to be caused by, whether you had just the ducts that were bleeding excised or whether you had a total duct excision, and generally how you have fared.
I am post-menopausal, in my mid 50s and since last October have had a rusty coloured discharge from the nipple of my right breast. Mammogram and numerous ultrasound scans were clear/okay and every time they have tested the discharge itself by fixing it on a slide for examination, there were no signs of cancer, but there were some ‘old dead red blood cells’ in it…
The discharge started out being from just one duct. Then, a few weeks later, from about 3 ducts and now it’s back to just coming from one duct (but that duct isn’t the same one that first bled). I have some widening of the ducts under/near to the nipple but was told that that wasn’t unusual for a woman of my age and should not be causing the discharge, i.e. they don’t think it’s duct ectasia irritating the ducts and causing them to bleed. At one point, at least a couple of months ago, my breast went hard and hurt, but didn’t become red and inflamed and this subsided after 3-4 without antibiotics and before I could get an appointment to see my surgeon.
I should also say that I had a duct removed from my other breast over 14 years ago. The scenario then was that I suddenly had hardness and pain in my breast, the hardness and pain went after about a week only to be followed by bloody nipple discharge from just one duct. The duct was shown to be widened on a mammogram and it was removed by microductectomy. The duct was tested but they could see no reason for the duct having widened and there was no cancer or papilloma.
This time - with the other breast spontaneously bleeding - my surgeon has suggested that I have a microductomy for just the ducts that he finds that are bleeding at the time of my being in the operating room or he said I could ‘watch and wait’ and come back for regular checking, but that he preferred the former option. I wasn’t sure what to decide, so he said he would speak of my case at his next case conference meeting with his colleagues for their advice/input. I am guessing that total duct excision could be on the cards. I go back to see my surgeon again on Feb 9th.
Thanks in anticipation of any insights and advice you might be able to offer me. I have found information about single duct bloody nipple discharge but nothing much about multi duct bloody nipple charge.
Candice