Hi, my mom (67) just had a mammogram and ultrasound, this time privately because screening is not active due to Covid and wanted to check herself due to sudden pain in the upper quadrant of one breast. The report shows the presence of a hypoechoic formation with iconographic characteristics of benignity of 3.7 mm in size. The doctor who performed the exams told her that she can rest assured and to have a checkup in a year, but not having the previous mammograms (because they were done with the screening service) she could not tell her if this training had already been present for some time. For the sake of completeness of information, I would like to point out that at the last check-up before this, performed about a year and a half ago, the mammogram was extremely painful for my mother in that quadrant: it was the first time it had happened. I wanted to understand what hypoechoic training means and if it is appropriate to do a new check up before a year.
Answers Annamaria Molino, professor at the School of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Verona, former Director of the Complex Operating Unit of Medical Oncology and of the Breast Group at the Integrated University Hospital of Verona.
Dear Mrs,
as you know, we cannot provide individual case information online, so the following is not intended as a medical consultation. Also, your question lacks the mammogram answer, so we don’t know if the cyst is confirmed, and the ultrasound answer doesn’t describe the features of the formation, for example the margins. We do not even know, as you rightly point out, whether this training was present in the previous exam.
However, in general, if the doctor who performed the ultrasound, and which is generally the same who reported the mammography, writes “… hypoechoic formation with characteristics of benignity …”, certainly the characteristics, even if not described in the report, they are of kindness.
Since we do not know if this is the first finding, perhaps it would be appropriate to do an ultrasound check only in 6-8 months, repeating the complete breast examination for a year.
Alternatively, he or she could obtain the X-ray of the previous mammogram from the screening center and have it compared. Even if the pain increases and becomes persistent, an ultrasound can be done again.
The repetition of the examination is not due to the risk of a cyst becoming malignant, but to the fact that if it increases in volume and hurts it can be emptied with a very simple method. However, keep in mind that cysts tend to reform over time.
Fundamental as a conclusion is to always turn to breast centers with extensive experience in this field.