Reading too much into mammo results

[dobiedame]

Hi, new here and have been trying to read some of the archives. I am 35 yrs old with a big family history of breast cancer. My mom passed away about 3 years ago with her 3rd bout of it plus my grandmother, her sister and a slew of other cancers on the other side of the family. I finally worked myself up to get a mammogram and it did not come back normal. I am scheduled for a consultation with a surgeon on Wed. about doing a biopsy. Here's what they found: Prominent cluster of pleomorphic calcifications w/i upper-outer quadrant of left breast and a second cluster of microcalcifications in the upper-outer quadrant of the right breast. BIRADS Category 4
I'm doing my best to keep this in perspective because I know I'm not going to get any further info until I see the surgeon. Does anyone know exactly what pleomorphic means and also the birads category worries me a little.  Any info would be wonderful.  Thanks

[HazelLynn]

Hi, Pleomorphic Microcalcifications when they group are more suspicious than when they are spread out, I had a mammogram with an agroupment of pleomorphic microcalcifications and thank goodness they found mine as for me it was a sign of very early dcis which I have just had removed.  I am not saying that this is the same as yours, but make sure they check for dcis.  The shapes of the pleomorphic microcalcifications are irregular and its important in the way they group/cluster together.  I am sorry but I dont know wht the BIRADS Category 4 means.
I was told that it was good that the microcalcifications were found early before they developed further.  I had mine removed last week and they were @ 5mm.  
Put Pleomorphic microcalcifications into Google/MSN/Ask Jeeves and various other browsers - I got a lot of information from there.
Very best wishes and I hope things work out well for you.
Hazel

[Irishgal2]

Hi, the BIRADS scale is for identifying how suspicious the lump is for malignancy and whether a biopsy is required.  Sorry to say that Category 4 is highly suspicious.  However, that does not mean to say that it is definitely cancer, but it is suspicious enough to warrant a biopsy.  Best of luck to you