Breast lumps and biopsy results

[mummynumnum]

Dear friend found two lumps in breast other week and had a biopsy Monday and went for results today. Had to have another biopsy and results now next Weds. She is v worried and dont want to press her too much on what all this means-esp the need for a 2nd one. Can anyone offer any advice?

Was the 1st test definitely a biopsy and not a fine needle aspiration? Sometimes, particularly if they are fairly sure the lump is likely to be benign, they use a small needle to suck out a tiny bit of the lump. If this result comes back indicating that the lump may be slightly more odd than they expected, then they may do a core biopsy next, as this actually takes a solid piece of the lump out to examine and can give a better idea of what the actual oddity is. I think they grade things on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is normal breast tissue, 2 is a totally benign lump, 3 is a non-cancerous but nevertheless slightly unusual result (indicating the need for further tests), 4 indicates possible malignancy and 5 is definitely malignant. If her first test was a core biopsy, then to be honest I don't know why they'd want to do another one on the same lumps as I'm not a medical professional so only have limited knowledge, but maybe someone else will be able to answer that for you.

There may have not been enough (or the right sort of) cells/tissue/material to make a decision on/interpret in the first one. It does happen occasionally.

Both seem like possibilities. Fingers crossed all will be well for her.

I had the needle version 4 times - each time the result was inconclusive - ended up having a lumpectomy - not nice, but the results were that it was a bit of very inflamed (you don't say!!!! ) tissue and nothing to worry about.... Hope its a similar situation...

Yes, the fine needle aspiration isn't all that accurate - I had 2. They give a +, a-, and a? in about equal measure, I was told. I also had 2 biopsies, which aren't particularly nice and cause bruising, then a lumpectomy, and then a mastectomy.