I wonder how many women are in the same situation of having cancers missed by mammograms and breast exams. I had a clear mamo in May 2010 and a breast exam by an oncologist a month before that. However, in June I was diagnosed with a primary recurrence and bone secondaries. I know they say mammos aren’t infallible but it would be interesting to know exactly how many cancers are missed each year.
I found my own lump, but it didn’t show up on a mammogram even though they knew where to look. So had an MRI to check that there wasn’t anything else there.
I wonder if that means I’ll have an MRI next year as well, instead of a mammogram? I have to say I won’t have any faith in them for me if they couldn’t see something they already knew was there.
I’ve been told that because the tumour did not show up on mammo, u/s or biopsy, I will have to have an MRI when rads is finished to make sure nothing else has been missed. Consultant and Onc also said I would not be suitable for mammo in future and would have MRI to check breasts instead of mammo.
crawfo
apparently its somewhere between 10 and 32% that are missed… some because they are not seen on mammo, some because they have been missed on mammo and some because they occurred after the mammo was taken.
choccie if your tumour didnt show up on mammo i think it would be fair to ask for an MRI unless it was visible on ultrasound in which case a wholebreast ultrasound may be the best option.
Lx
Kim’s results showed the tumour was removed (ductal carcinoma 22mm, grade 3, aggressive). Lymph nodes, chest muscle and margins all clear. She will have 6 months of chemotherapy, followed by 6 months of radiotherapy, possibly herceptin treatment. Long road to come but also a long way travelled in the last few weeks.
Her cancer was in an unusual position, being on the inner part of the breast and on the chest wall - this contributed to it being missed at the first mammogram as the screening programme does NOT screen this section of the breast. The only way of seeing this area fully is an MRI scan.There are 500 new breast cancers each year at in our local area and 2 of these will experience what we have experienced, due to the limitations of the breast screening programme.
Looking back at Kim’s films, there is an area of tissue which looks slightly different, however the mammogram readers (2 experienced radiologists), made the judgement that it was dense breast tissue and did not send her film to the Director of Screening for her opinion.
Hi im a male i recently developed man boobs with one breast 3 times the size of the other which has a hard lump the thickness of my little finger
the breast clinic did a manogram and ultrasound but no biopsy?
they said all was ok?
and they wont operate to sort the problem or check further as they say its just man boobs from my blood pressure medications especially the doxazosin it is well known to cause lumps and sometimes cancer
but i feel they made a mistake and its still growing
do you think i should ask for a MRI scan or at least a biopsy?
because male breast cancer is rare (but on the increase) they wont take me seriously
am i being paranoid or should i dig my heels to make sure ? Prevention better than cure and all that
best wishes to all
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Hi there
My first mammogramme was taken at a mobile unit outside my GP Surgery.
On October 2014
All clear
So November 2015 the swelling I found wasn’t taken seriously as I had had a clear mammogram!
Xmas eve 2015 I had to tell my family that I had a breast cancer confirmation
2016/2017
Confirmed Her2 positive (the fast growing one )
Lumpectomy
Chemotherapy
Radiotherapy
Herceptin
Medication
I was still given another mammogramme !!!
I now live in constant fear it’s coming back .
I had a mammogram in June 2017 received letter 10 days later to now be informed due to haveing a fast growing lump that I have breast cancer stage 2 now I have the worry that it has spread as now going for ct scan
I don’t know for sure but will always wonder if cancer was missed on my scan 3 years ago (they are 3 years apart in Wales). I had had nipple discharge 4 years ago which was investigated and the specialist told me he didn’t think it was a problem, but offered to remove the area producing the discharge if I wished, or if anything further happened.
I was scared about surgery so decided to see what happened, which was nothing. The mamogram the following year didn’t pick anything up, even though I told the radiographers what had happened before.
This year, a student being extremely thorough during my mamogram in August 2018 can be thanked and praised for positioning me so thoroughly (even though it was very painful), that the anomaly was picked up, at 1.6cm. By the time of my first operation, the stage 1 diagnosis had increased to a stage 2.
My follow up with the surgeon won’t be until October 2019, and I won’t be due another mamogram for another 6 months after that.
I don’t know whether it is worth me asking about the first mamogram, or just trying to forget it, and now that my rads are finished, try and move on. What would it change if I knew for sure? (Apart from possibly not retiring from work while I was undergoing treatment, but having a few more years to get used to the idea).