BIRAD 5

[WILSON2402]

I had a MR guided biopsy Friday 6/27 and am scheduled to have a second on the other side on July 8th. They said the left side is a birad 5 with a 9cm x 4.5 x4.3 mass, right side is birad 4 does this sound like cancer? Honesty please!!

[PaulMD]

Hi there.

I understand your concern.  BIRADS is a system of standardizing mammogram reports and the higher the number, the higher chances that the findings are indeed malignant.  However, these should be differentiated or ascertained by a biopsy procedure as this is only the most dependable way to determine the exact nature of the lesions.

You can learn more about BIRADS through this website:

http://breastcancer.about.com/od/diagnosis/a/birads.htm

Regards and God bless.

[japdip]

OK, here goes .... the BIRAD 5 (and I'm speaking from personal experience) is highly suggestive of malignancy. The BIRAD 4 can very likely be something other than malignant .. a fair percentage of 4s are proven to be benign after biopsy. Just take things one step at a time and try not to panic about this ... the personal experience I referred to was 6 years ago and I'm fine. Best Wishes ..