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#1
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breast examinations
I met someone today who is in need of a full breast screening, a
specific problem as well has her being 40 is the reason. She is breastfeeding a 19mth old. She has been referred by her doctor for breast MRI, but she cannot find a radiologist who is prepared to do it, the contrast mediums all appear to be compatible with breastfeeding, it more seems to be that they are not prepared to read it and say it's clear (if that were the case), simply because a lactating breast is not one which can be read so accurately. Does anyone have any ideas at all? We're in the Seattle area. It would seem to me that they should do it and the report should say, presuming they find nothing, that nothing was seen, with a caution that it would be less accurate, as it is a lactating breast - as it is it's being delayed whilst she finds someone, surely it's better if there is a problem to try to get a result, instead of her spending time looking for someone, whilst potentially a problem gets worse, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a family history of breast cancer as she mentioned she'd had a mammogram 7 years ago. Cheers Anne |
#2
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breast examinations
I might be wrong, but I think a lactating breast looks as though it
has growths inside, and it is therefore not possible to detect whether one of those 'growths' is cancerous or not without checking it through an operation. In other words, if they do the breast MRI, it will look as though there is a problem and they will have to do one of those operations whether they check whether or not something is cancerous (sorry, forgot the word). I might be completely wrong though, but that is how I understood it. I think Sarah Vaughn is on this forum, she might now? -x- Jolande On Aug 21, 7:56 am, Anne Rogers wrote: I met someone today who is in need of a full breast screening, a specific problem as well has her being 40 is the reason. She is breastfeeding a 19mth old. She has been referred by her doctor for breast MRI, but she cannot find a radiologist who is prepared to do it, the contrast mediums all appear to be compatible with breastfeeding, it more seems to be that they are not prepared to read it and say it's clear (if that were the case), simply because a lactating breast is not one which can be read so accurately. Does anyone have any ideas at all? We're in the Seattle area. It would seem to me that they should do it and the report should say, presuming they find nothing, that nothing was seen, with a caution that it would be less accurate, as it is a lactating breast - as it is it's being delayed whilst she finds someone, surely it's better if there is a problem to try to get a result, instead of her spending time looking for someone, whilst potentially a problem gets worse, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a family history of breast cancer as she mentioned she'd had a mammogram 7 years ago. Cheers Anne |
#4
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breast examinations
Hi Anne,
I think the reasons are as explained - not that it's dangerous in any way to the baby, but that the presence of milk in the ducts makes it hard to read the results. Same reasons they don't do smears when you're pg. Is there another way they can do a diagnosis? Morag "Anne Rogers" wrote in message ... I met someone today who is in need of a full breast screening, a specific problem as well has her being 40 is the reason. She is breastfeeding a 19mth old. She has been referred by her doctor for breast MRI, but she cannot find a radiologist who is prepared to do it, the contrast mediums all appear to be compatible with breastfeeding, it more seems to be that they are not prepared to read it and say it's clear (if that were the case), simply because a lactating breast is not one which can be read so accurately. Does anyone have any ideas at all? We're in the Seattle area. It would seem to me that they should do it and the report should say, presuming they find nothing, that nothing was seen, with a caution that it would be less accurate, as it is a lactating breast - as it is it's being delayed whilst she finds someone, surely it's better if there is a problem to try to get a result, instead of her spending time looking for someone, whilst potentially a problem gets worse, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a family history of breast cancer as she mentioned she'd had a mammogram 7 years ago. Cheers Anne |
#5
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breast examinations
Anne Rogers wrote:
It would seem to me that they should do it and the report should say, presuming they find nothing, that nothing was seen, with a caution that it would be less accurate, as it is a lactating breast - as it is it's being delayed whilst she finds someone, surely it's better if there is a problem to try to get a result, instead of her spending time looking for someone, whilst potentially a problem gets worse Depends on the likelihood that there is a problem. The risk of a false positive with consequent unnecessary treatment has to be balanced against the risk of missing a problem. What's the clinical indication for the scan? All the best, Sarah -- http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com "That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell |
#6
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breast examinations
Jolande wrote:
[...] I think Sarah Vaughn is on this forum, she might now? Not my field at all, but I've posted the query on a medical forum. All the best, Sarah -- http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com "That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell |
#7
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breast examinations
Morag in Scotland wrote:
Hi Anne, I think the reasons are as explained - not that it's dangerous in any way to the baby, but that the presence of milk in the ducts makes it hard to read the results. Same reasons they don't do smears when you're pg. Is there another way they can do a diagnosis? I simply don't know enough about the particular circumstances, the mother asked the question during a la leche league meeting, the topic is interesting to me and I wanted to find out more, with the bonus that if I did find something, I could pass it on to her via the group leader. She was pretty clear that it wasn't "just" screening - screening in the US is yearly from 40 anyway, when it comes up with breastfeeding women, often the answer is to just wait, but if there are any risk factors that's not going to be the case, my mum had breast cancer at 43, if I happen to be breastfeeding anywhere near that age, skipping screening isn't a great option. Ultrasound was suggested, but apparently it's not that good for screening the whole breast, just for looking at specific lumps - but I don't know how conclusive the answer is even on specific lumps during lactation, I had a lump examined by ultrasound during breastfeeding, it was expected to be an abscess and the plan was to drain it, but when they found it to be a solid lump, that was all they could say about it, solid. Cheers Anne |
#8
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breast examinations
Depends on the likelihood that there is a problem. The risk of a false positive with consequent unnecessary treatment has to be balanced against the risk of missing a problem. What's the clinical indication for the scan? I really don't know much detail. I wouldn't be surprised if a British doctors evaluation of the situation would be quite different to that of an American doctor - given the baseline difference in screening, from 50 and 3 yearly in the UK, compared to from 40 and yearly in the US. She did say she had a problem rather than it being routine screening. I guess I'm looking for some non specific information, such as data on how reliable results are from the various tests when lactating, the breast MRI has been requested by her doctor, though I don't know which type of doctor, so it's entirely possible s/he isn't highly knowledgeable about the subject, if they were they'd probably know which radiologists would and wouldn't so it. Cheers Anne |
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