65 years old finds a lump

[ychu12]

Hi All,

My mom who is 65 years old just finds a lump on her left breast during the routine visits. She went for a mammogram, ultrasounds and MRI. I think ultrasounds didn't show the lump for some reasons but mammogram and MRI did. The mammogram did show microcalcifications and have a rating of BI-RADS 4a.  She lives in China and I am here in the U.S. That's all the information she has at this point. She is going to see a breast specialist next Tuesday but she is scared to death now and I really worry about her too. When a woman over 65 develops a lump, does it usualy mean cancer? I seached online it seems like most of benign lumps are with younger women. Can microcalcifications become a lump? My family so far doesn't have a history of breast cancer. She doesn't have any high risk factors for breast cancer.

Thank you very much in advance for any feedbacks.

Amy

[allmymarbles]

It probably is not cancer. But should it be, it is not as aggressive in a woman of her age than it would be in a pre-menopausal woman.

[zouzi]

Hi,
Microcalcifications are small calcium deposits found within the breast tissue and these occur normally. However when these calcifications are clustered (grouped) they may increase concern that there may be an underlying abnormality.The BI-RADS score 4a  stated on your mom's mammogram and MRI means that the lump is suspicious and  to find out the true nature of this lump, a biopsy is the usual procedure.
Most of the time, BI-RADS category 4 abnormalities are benign ,but can be malignant in 25-50% of cases.
Recently, there have been suggestions to categorize the BI-RADS further by adding A, B, and C, to indicated less or more worrisome within the category.A is less suspicious ( like your mom has) and  C is more.
Both benign and malignant conditions can occur in women at any age and your mom is not more at risk than a younger woman, especially if there is no family history of breast cancer.
Hoping that all goes well for your mom....Being so far away from her it's certainly very hard,but I am sure that her Breast Specialist will see to it that your mom is well taken care of.
Best wishes to both of you...