Breast Ultrasound

Breast Ultrasound is another way to examine the breast. Your physician may order a breast ultrasound for reasons that include the following:

� Breast Ultrasound is performed to better characterize a solid area seen on mammogram in more detail and may eliminate unnecessary biopsies by distinguishing malignant from benign (non-cancerous) lesions such as a lymph node.

� Ultrasound also distinguishes a simple fluid-filled cyst from a solid lesion suspected on mammogram.

� Women with dense breasts - ultrasound increases the sensitivity of detecting cancer in dense breasts.

What your Mammogram and/or Breast Ultrasound might show:

While they�re looking for possible cancer, your doctors may also come across masses or structures in the breast that deserve further investigation, including:

� Calcifications: Calcifications are tiny flecks of calcium � like grains of salt � in the soft tissue of the breast that can sometimes indicate the presence of an early breast cancer. Calcifications usually can't be felt, but they appear on a mammogram. Depending on how they're clustered and their shape, size, and number, your doctor may want to do further tests.

Big calcifications � "macrocalcifications" � are usually not associated with cancer. Groups of small calcifications huddled together, called "clusters of microcalcifications," or �grouped microcalcifications� are associated with extra breast cell activity. Most of the times this is non-cancerous extra cell growth, but sometimes clusters of microcalcifications can occur in areas of early cancer.

� Cysts: Unlike cancerous tumors, which are solid, cysts are fluid-filled masses in the breast. Cysts are very common and are rarely associated with cancer. A follow-up ultrasound is the best way to tell a cyst from a cancer, because sound waves pass right through a liquid-filled cyst. Solid lumps, on the other hand, bounce the waves right back.

� Fibroadenomas: Fibroadenomas are movable, solid, rounded lumps made up of normal breast cells. While not cancerous, these lumps may grow. And any solid lump that's getting bigger is usually removed to make sure that it's not a cancer. Fibroadenomas are the most common kind of breast masses, especially in young women. For more about a fibroadenoma, Click Here