Should I Get Second Opinion for Breast Calcifications?

Breast calcifications are the signs of cellular turnover essentially, dead cells that can be visualized on a mammogram  & observed in a breast biopsy. In most cases, mammographic calcifications are depended with changes in benign normal breast tissue, though in some cases they can be a sign of early breast cancer.

What are Breast Calcifications?

Breast calcifications are small spots of calcium salts. They can spread anywhere in the breast tissue. They are very small so you won’t be able to feel them and they don’t cause any pain. Breast calcifications are very common and usually develop naturally as a woman ages. Having benign breast calcifications doesn’t increase risk of developing breast cancer.

Breast calcifications can occasionally be an early sign of cancer. Because of doctor or nurse may want you to have further tests to check what sort of calcifications. Sometimes they form of because of other changes in the breast, such as a fibroadenoma or breast cyst.

Mammography and Breast Calcifications:

All cells in the body have their own life period the cells that line the milk ducts of the breast also only live for so long. If you have an abnormal mammogram with a recommendation for biopsy or a recommendation for short-term follow-up, it is important to return for the additional tests to be certain that the findings are not the early signs of breast cancer.

In many cases, a mammogram may not give the radiologists enough information. The mammogram may not clear that or they may want to check an area carefully. It doesn’t mean that something is wrong to further tests will give your doctor or nurse more information to help them make an accurate diagnosis.

Further tests are likely to include a more detailed mammogram which gives a close-up picture of the affected area.It may also have a core biopsy. Because calcifications are small, usually a computer and mammogram are used to locate them accurately so a biopsy can be taken from the affected area – this is called as a stereotactic core biopsy.