I am a 45 year old woman in fairly good health. For the past few months I have been having a continuous discharge from my right nipple. This is red in colour as it also contains blood. I have been to the hospital and the mammograph they did was clear and also the smear test they did on the discharge did not show any abnormality.
I have been advised by the consultant at the hospital to have a Hadfields operation (an operation to remove the ducts) to stop the discharge and also to see if there are any abnormalities which could lead to Cancer.
I understand the need but at the same time I am a bit worried about the operation and would welcome any advice from women who have been in a similar situation and any suggestions you have to offer.
Hi ycantwe,
Were you told that you had duct ectasia?
Have you gone through the menopause?
Did you have an ultrasound, MRI scan, needle biopsy?
Sorry to ask so many questions but answers might help someone recognize the symptoms.
It may help you also if you had a talk with one of the trained people on the helpline here.
E
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ycantwe, if you do a search you will no doubt come up with a few threads that talk about this, and duct ectasia. Most were simple problems to sort out. Have just found this link to a previous discussion breastcancercare.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=27319 and this one breastcancercare.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=27042
In my case unfortunately it turned out to be cancer, I had bleeding from the nipple for only a couple of weeks though and had presented with other signs and symptoms before this happened.
Feel free to ask if you have any questions, and all the best.
Hello ycantwe,
Back in July 2005, I had a discharge from my nipple that contained blood. I was diagnosed with duct ectasia and had an operation to remove the ducts from the affected breast.
The op was done as day surgery at my local hospital, under general anaesthetic. They cut around the edge of the aureole to remove the ducts and once all the dressings were off it was virtually impossible to see the stitches. I do have a slight loss of sensitivity in that nipple though.
All the results from my op were normal. It was my other breast that went and got breast cancer!, but that’s another story.
I wish you all the best, please let us know how you get on.
Jill
Hi
I have been diagnosed with Duct Ectasia this morning. I have had similar symptoms to yours, message me if you want to talk.
Holly xx
I had a blood discharge from my nipple. All my tests came back clear and after the bleeding continued for several months I was advised to have my milk ducts removed. It was a very simple op done as a day patient. The scar was very neat although I lost sensation in my nipple everything looked normal. If you are offered this operation I would highly recommend it. I am so glad I had mine done.
Hi All
Thank You all for posting your comments and advice which I found very helpful and comforting. In answer to some of the questions raised I was told that it could be Duct Ectasia but this is not yet a positive diagnosis. They did not do a MRI scan,or an ultrasound or needle biopsy. I have not yet had my menopause and I cannot feel any lumps at present but because of the length of time I have been having this discharge the consultant advised the operation.
Though I am a little scared of having the operation I think that seems to be the best option. I thank you once again and I will keep you informed of the outcome.
Regards
ycantwe
Hi All
Thank You all for posting your comments and advice which I found very helpful and comforting. In answer to some of the questions raised I was told that it could be Duct Ectasia but this is not yet a positive diagnosis. They did not do a MRI scan,or an ultrasound or needle biopsy. I have not yet had my menopause and I cannot feel any lumps at present but because of the length of time I have been having this discharge the consultant advised the operation.
Though I am a little scared of having the operation I think that seems to be the best option. I thank you once again and I will keep you informed of the outcome.
Regards
ycantwe
hope you don’t mind me adding to this thread, it caught my eye, for several reasons.
Firstly I am a Nurse, I am sure that it does sound like duct ectasia, which is fairly common.
However my story is I was 49 having very regular periods, and in January of this year noticed some dark bloody discharge from my right nipple, not a huge amount but enough to stain my bra…I did nothing for two weeks, thinking that I may have bashed my boob, or a small infection. after two weeks I thought this is not right, but wasn’t too concerned as I had no lump or swelling or any other sign of anything being wrong.
to cut a long story short, I saw a Breast care consutant a colleague from a few years back, who again, felt not lump, U/S showed nothing, mamagramme nothing of note, she reasured my that nothing was wrong, but decided to send me for an MRI to reassure me.
MRI showed extensive disease, requiring Mastectomy following 7 months of chemo (which finishes next month)She was very shocked.
I thought long and hard about writing this, I really hope that this does not add to your worries, my point was to request an MRI.
I really do not want anyone to go through my experience, I knew my health care team all of which reasured me that I was fine. it took 4 months to finally get a diagnosis, so please be sure that they have answered all of your concerns to your full satisfaction Ycantwe and very best wishes
rugbygirl x
Hi Ladies,
Rugbygirl, in answer to your post.
Absolutely why I asked the questions I did of Ycantwe. An MRI is in my opinion absolutely the only definite way of getting a proper picture of what is happening in the breast. I was diagnosed with duct ectasia in 2006. I had mammogran and ultrasound and was told all was well and not to worry. In 2007 my nipple started bleeding, just a little. I was seen at the breast clinic, had mammo and ultra and nothing showed and it was decided that I had scratched my nipple. In 2008 the bleeding started again. That time I absolutely knew that I had not scratched myself. I had by that time felt a lump but it was only able to be felt when I was upright. That time I was not going to leave without a proper diagnosis. An ultra showed a difference from the previous year. A punch biopsy was taken and it was cancer. The next month I had a mastectomy and all nodes removed. 14/27 affected. Following chemo, rads and 1 year on Herceptin my scans are clear. You can be sure that I insisted on a bone scan, CT body scan and MRI brain scan. I dread to think what would have happened if I had not stood my ground.
Ycantwe. I am not trying to scare you, just to make sure that you have the treatment you need. Personally I would be insisting on an MRI scan before anything else but that is your decision. Hopefully you have nothing to worry about but there is nothing like making sure.
I wish you all the best
E
Request a MRI its the only way to get a definite answer!
Thanks for your postings emmbee and Rugbygirl. I am due to go in on 29/10/10 to have the ducts removed on my right breast to stop the discharge and then these would be sent for analysis to test for any abnormalities. Do you think that if there is any cancer present this would show from the removed ducts or is MRI the only absolute way to show if any cancer is present in the breast? (Trying to get an MRI scan is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. How did you do it?).
ycantwe
Hi Ycantwe,
I am not an expert in breast cancer so I can only tell you what I discovered during my treatment. I had HER+ cancer which is very difficult to diagnose. It did not show up on 3 mammograms and was only suspected because the 3rd ultrasound was slightly different from the 2nd. That’s when I had the biopsy which finally diagnosed the cancer. It was only 3ml so very small. When further Histology was done on the breast tissue another cancer was found which was 8ml. Still quite small but obviously it had spread, luckily no further than the nodes.
I think that a biopsy on the removed ducts will show any abnormalities. For sure the ducts will not stop bleeding unless they are removed so that needs doing anyway. I was told that an MRI can pick up abnormalities as small as 2ml which a mammogram can not. Why don’t you ask your surgeon why you are not having an MRI. It may be that he/she is an expert in duct ectasia and prefers to have tissue to test.
I did not have an MRI on the breast. I did ask if I could have one at the end of my first year on treatment but was refused. I am due for my end of second year appointment with my surgeon and will certainly ask again. The MRI scan I had was because Herceptin is unable to penetrate the blood brain barrier even though it can kill cancer cells in all other parts of the body. Even so, an MRI is not normally done so I was lucky. The reason I was given one is because the side effects of my swine flu vaccine were mimicking brain mets.
I am due to see my oncologist next week and I shall certainly be asking why I cannot have a breast MRI 2 years down the line. If he and my surgeon refuse I shall consider having one done privately.
I do hope that all goes well with your surgery and that the biopsies are clear. Do let us know how you get on. I shall be on holiday from the 31st Oct to the 15th Nov so will check this post when I return.
Very best wishes,
E
I too agree with E, the surgeon will send off the removed tissue for microscopic analysis, this will indeed pick up any abnormality including any cancer cells. This will also confirm the diagnosis duct ectasia or otherwise.
all the very best for the 29th, lots of hugs xxx
Hi all
Just to let you know that the operation was done and I was sent home the same day. Felt a bit down the first couple of days but recovering now. Haven’t had any results yet. The breast is still well bandaged up and I am waiting to be called for the dressing to be changed as per their instructions. I am not in any pain now but the right breast looks all dark like its badly bruised. I am assuming this is normal. Will keep you posted of any further progress.
ycantwe
Hi ycantwe
Glad you have had your op and are recovering well! I had bruising but was pleasantly surprised when dressings came off.
How long do you have to wait for the results?
Hi Tedoris
They didn’t tell me how long I’d have to wait for the results but I am assuming 3 to 4 weeks.