Let the Fight Begin!!
Fibrocystic Lumps
Or otherwise known as benign cysts. They are usually harmless, fluid-filled sacks buried deep in the dense tissue of the breasts. It occurs as a result of the presence of hormones within the surrounding tissue, or it may be a response to an infection within the tissue (not cancer related). The anatomy of a cyst is quite simple and harmless to the body; a bubble filled with fluid within the breast tissue. The mere presence of cysts leads many women to believe they have a cancerous lump until a clinical breast exam reveals it to be a mere cyst. I once had a woman call me claiming to have a lump in her breast the size of a tennis ball. She was particularly frantic for two reasons: 1.) she knew very little about clinical breast exams and breast anatomy, and 2.) her aunt, a breast cancer survivor, claimed she looked at her breast and insisted she had breast cancer and needed to get treatment right away. I was able to arrange a clinical breast exam and when i got the doctor's report i read his impression, which basically said there was no lump - just dense breasts, which are grainy and possibly lumpy. However, there was nothing abnormal or suspicious about her breast health and no reason to pursue additional testing, but the doctor ordered a mammogram anyway just to calm the woman down.
This is a perfect example of poor health education. We have to assume this woman knows her body very well and knows the normal or healthy characteristics of her breasts - and noticed a sudden change, however, her complaint was largely contrary to the doctor's final assessment. We must also trust that fibrocystic lumps and and tumors are easily differentiated by doctors. I did not read the results of this woman's mammogram results, but I am about 100% sure her dense breasts are negative for anything malicious. After getting her tested I was able to get her onto a free health insurance plan where she can hopefully get routine clinical breast exams and education about what is simply dense tissue compared to a suspicious lump.
Suspicious Lumps
Everyone freaks out when they find something unusual in their breasts, which we then calm down from and turn on surveillance mode. Every little thing that happens from then on doesn't happen without us knowing about it first - a pimple, in-grown hair, dry skin, and does that damn lump feel bigger than it was yesterday?!
Any lump is suspicious, but the kind of lump that you should get an appointment for now are the lumps that are hard like a ball or marble. They don't have to be big or shallow in the breast tissue - they can be small and very deep within the breast tissue, around the ribs, the armpit, somewhere on your clavicle or chest bone (sternum). These lumps should not move very easily - granted they are large and shallow enough to rub or attempt to move - they shouldn't have much "give" should your breast tissue, muscles, or skin moves. And, once they show up they don't go away like most cysts do. Once they appear they can either be slow growing which may take several months or years to reach an alarming size, or they can be very aggressive and fast growing. Keep in mind that the faster a suspicious lump grows the more serious the prognosis will be, the harder it is to treat, and a higher chance of metastasizing or spreading.
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