| Diagnosing
Benign Breast Conditions
How are benign
breast conditions and infections diagnosed?
In addition to obtaining a complete medical history, your physician,
in diagnosing a breast condition, may proceed with the following:
- Perform a complete
physical examination to:
- locate any
lump and feel its characteristics (i.e., texture, size, and relationship
to the skin and chest muscles).
- look for changes
in the nipples or the skin of the breast.
- check lymph
nodes under the arm and above the collarbones.
- Request imaging
tests, including:
- diagnostic
mammography to look for masses and calcifications.
- breast ultrasound
to further evaluate information from the physical examination or
mammography.
- If there is discharge,
other than breast milk, from the nipples, request a laboratory microscopic
examination of the discharge.
- If there is discharge,
other than breast milk, from the nipples, request a ductogram x-ray
of the nipples.
- Request a biopsy
of tissue removed from the suspicious area.
What
are the different types of biopsy?
- image-guided
biopsies - those aided by ultrasound or other imaging technique,
including:
- fine
needle aspiration - a very fine needle is guided into the
suspicious area and a small sample of the tissue is removed.
- core
needle biopsy - a larger needle is guided into the lump
to remove a small cylinder of tissue.
- surgical
biopsy - a surgical procedure is used to remove all or part
of a lump.
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