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Wk 2, Case 3 - Review

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A 37-year-old.

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History of recently

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diagnosed left breast cancer.

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Evaluation for extended disease.

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So I don't remember if the case history,

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if we gave any indication about how

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large the left breast cancer was that

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we've, uh, that has been biopsy-proven.

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Um, uh, but, you know, we can tell right

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away that this looks pretty extensive.

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Right.

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Um, again, a pretty large portion of the

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breast, um, you might at least wonder about

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these nodes and especially in relation to this

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larger enhancement that we're seeing, but they

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do look pretty symmetric with the other side.

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So, um, you know, perhaps we'll let those go.

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We'll have to see.

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Um, The right side, I think, looks pretty good.

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You maybe were wondering, might

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wonder about this little area here.

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Want to have a look at that specifically and

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see, um, see how you feel about that one.

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So let's get to the top here.

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So again, already in this case,

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um, you know, we can see some.

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Uh, skin thickening again, right?

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And I want to mention that as one

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of our, um, acts, uh, not acts,

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sorry, um, additional findings.

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Um, and just focusing on the skin for the

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moment, in this case, in comparison to

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that other one, that was the inflammatory

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cancer here, we do see some direct,

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uh, enhancement within the skin, right?

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That it looks like, uh, the area of enhancement

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extends really to the skin surface here, maybe

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a tiny, you know, mass within the skin here.

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Um, and we can see that, uh, you know,

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in multiple locations in reporting, I

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would specifically mention that, that,

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that there's some focal enhancement

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within the skin at whatever clock face

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position, 12 o'clock, if that's what it is.

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Um, so within the breast, um, I would describe

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this as multiple areas of non-mass enhancement.

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I would.

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Probably give this sort of the clock

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face position and say multiple areas of

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non-mass enhancement extending from,

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you know, x location to x location, um,

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uh, and then give a sense of the depth.

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So from interior to middle depth,

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and that should be pretty good

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for your referring providers.

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Generally, in all of these cases, too, I

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think it's important to try to, um, determine

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where you biopsied already and whether

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you want to recommend additional biopsies.

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Now, in this case, of course, with this

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extensive area of enhancement, you would hope

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that your surgical providers would be, um,

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not considering, uh, breast conservation.

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Uh, in our reporting, we will occasionally,

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um, despite the fact that we really believe

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that we wouldn't want a patient to have breast

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conservation in this case, we might say,

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you know, if there's consideration of breast

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conservation, then here's what you need to do.

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You know, you're going to have to

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biopsy multiple additional areas

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to define the extent of disease.

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Now it's a little bit. You wouldn't

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really expect that to be the case in this

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particular case, but let's say you had a

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larger area of non-mass enhancement and,

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um, it would at least be theoretically

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reasonable to do breast conservation.

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You might want to guide your surgeons and

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your other radiology colleagues for the next

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step, saying, here's what I think would need

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to be done in order to prove that there is,

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uh, indeed disease in these other places.

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And then that would help you

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also plan your localization.

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We do, I'm sure you get it too, um, have

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patients that, um, you know, despite our

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belief that they won't necessarily

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be well served by breast conservation,

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that they're highly motivated to do so.

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And so we have, you know, sometimes been

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in this business of, you know, defining,

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definitively defining, um, the extent of disease

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either for the patient or the surgical

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provider to sort of prove that, you know,

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even though based on the imaging, we think

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it's highly likely this is additional disease.

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Sometimes patients need that

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verification that that is actually true.

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Um, and we've also, um, done multiple

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additional biopsies and sort of very

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complex localizations to get this entire

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area, um, because patients are very

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motivated for, um, for breast conservation.

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Um, that's, you know, a little bit of an aside,

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but, um, it's all to say that, um, we will

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occasionally put in that statement to report,

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saying if it's being considered, then these

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are the other things that you need to do.

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Um, I don't think I would necessarily do it

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in this case because it is quite extensive.

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I think, you know, most surgeons could look

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at this and say, "Oh, yes, this is not a

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good idea to do breast conservation here."

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Um, anyway, so multiple areas of non-mass

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enhancement, um, extending into the looks like

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periareolar skin, nipple, um, and of course

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it's important to mention that, um, because if

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the surgeon is considering mastectomy,

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um, this patient would not be a good candidate

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for nipple-sparing mastectomy, um, because

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it looks like we have some direct invasion

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into the nipple in this case.

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Um, we would want to look up,

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of course, into our nodes again.

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Um, these are a little

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bit harder to tell, right?

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A bunch of smaller nodes.

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Um, I'd say these probably, this

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one's a little funny looking.

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Looks like we did biopsy that one.

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Um, uh, And so you'd want to at least mention

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that you see a biopsy clip in that one.

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I don't see any other nodes that

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look particularly suspicious.

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Of course, if you did see one, even if you'd

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biopsied a node previously and you saw another

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one that looked more suspicious,

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maybe a rounded node without a hilum, you

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could recommend repeat targeting of the

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axilla, trying to find that one particular node

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and potential subsequent biopsy from there.

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Um, I think we had one area

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in the other breast where we were

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a bit curious. Um, looks like she

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had something that I've seen

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previously here on the right side.

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Um, almost looks a little bit

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like some of those dark

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internal septations of a fibroadenoma.

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Um, I don't remember or know if we have

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pathology results from that side or not.

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Um, it looks like she has some

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ductal signal here.

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I'm guessing that's probably also, um,

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uh, true also on the non-contrast one.

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So this would be proteinaceous debris

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or something within the ducts.

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Um, and we can confidently call that benign

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if we see it on that pre-contrast series.

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This little mass here, you could probably call

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that, um, we'd have to look a little bit further

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and perhaps look at something like kinetics

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to help us determine whether we need to do

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anything more about this, uh, this one here.

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I had a quick question.

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Just a quick question about the sternum.

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Yeah.

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Um, I think it was PA or

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Image 90, that one there.

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That little guy there?

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Yeah, that guy there.

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Yep.

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So the sternal thing's, of course,

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a little bit difficult, right?

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Um, what I would do is try to look at RT two.

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So let's pull that down.

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Okay.

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See if we can find that little thing.

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A little bit has a little

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bit of T2 signal there.

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Um, the other thing we could do is

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look at our, so it's a little easier

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when you can actually link them together.

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Um, you can, you can link them.

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Oh, there we go.

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There we go.

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Um, right there.

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So it does persist.

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So, um, you know, of course it's always good

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to think about, especially in a case like.

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This about metastatic disease, right?

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Um, we are a little bit limiting you in the

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sense that we're giving you only the first

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phase here, but this would be one that you

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might want to look over multiple phases,

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trying to show that that's like a angioma.

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Um, and that would be my sort of primary guess.

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If you had other prior studies,

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you could try to figure it out.

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Of course, if you had CT or

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something, that would be helpful.

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Um, in the absence of those things,

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I think you could mention it.

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Um, uh, you know, sometimes you could say,

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well, I'm not really sure about it, but you

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could get dedicated imaging, like a CT scan.

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Uh, you could potentially look at if the

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patient gets the subsequent bone scan.

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Um, uh, Or if you were more worried about it,

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you could say that it's, you know, possibly mets

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and maybe you'll see those other things and,

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um, they would have to deal with it

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from, you know, either radiation perspective.

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And of course, if you mentioned that, then

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that I want to go looking for other moments to

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make sure that that's not, um, not the case.

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So I think it would be a

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reasonable mention here.

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Um, probably still hematoma, but, uh, yeah.

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But it's a little bit difficult to tell.

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Um, for ones that I have seen that are,

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uh, true mets, I feel like they tend to

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be more kind of rim enhancing, right?

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Or like nodular sort of rim enhancing.

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Um, not exactly looking like this,

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um, with maybe even some enhancement

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going out, you know, sort of beyond the

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margins of the cortex or the bone.

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Um, those are the kinds

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of things that I look for.

Report

HISTORY: 37 year old woman with a history of recently diagnosed left breast cancer. Evaluation for extent of disease.

Summary of prior imaging:

Mammography: Patient presents for diagnostic mammogram and US for a palpable abnormality in the upper outer left breast. Diagnostic mammogram demonstrates diffuse coarse heterogeneous and fine pleomorphic calcifications in the upper outer left breast. There is no definite underlying mass.

Ultrasound: Targeted ultrasound of the left breast demonstrates a vague hypoechoic mass with indistinct margins in the left breast at 2 o’clock. In addition, there is mass or densely shadowing area in the left breast at 7 o’clock. An abnormal lymph node is also identified in the left axilla. Biopsies of all of these areas was subsequently performed with ultrasound guidance demonstrating invasive ductal carcinoma at each site in the breast, and metastatic carcinoma in a lymph node. The patient also underwent a biopsy of a mass in the right breast with benign results.

Breast MRI: NA

FINDINGS
Quality control issues: ☒None ☐Poor/lack contrast bolus ☐Poor fat suppression
☐Susceptibility ☐Movement ☐Other

Background Parenchymal Enhancement: Mild

Amount of Fibroglandular Tissue: Heterogenous glandular tissue

LEFT BREAST

Narrative: There is extensive non mass enhancement throughout the left breast extending from anterior to posterior depth, and involving the nipple. The overall extent of non mass enhancement measures up to 11 cm (CC). There is associated nipple retraction and skin thickening, with areas of periareolar and inferior breast skin enhancement. There is focal susceptibility artifact in the left breast at 2 o’clock, posterior depth and 7 o’clock anterior depth
compatible with biopsy marker clips. There is also focal susceptibility artifact within a node in the left axilla, also compatible with a biopsy marker clip.

Associated findings LEFT: ☐NONE, ☒Nipple retraction, ☒Nipple involvement, ☐Skin retraction, ☒Skin thickening, ☒Skin invasion-direct, ☐Skin invasion-inflammatory, ☐Pectoral muscle invasion, ☐Chest wall invasion, ☐ Architectural distortion

Non-enhancing findings LEFT: ☐NONE, ☐High ductal signal pre contrast T1, ☐Cyst(s), ☐Hematoma/seroma, ☐Post therapy skin/trabecular thickening, ☐Non-enhancing mass, ☐Architectural distortion, ☒Signal void from clips

Fat containing lesions LEFT: ☒NONE, ☐Fat necrosis, ☐Hamartoma, ☐Post-operative seroma/hematoma with fat

Lymph nodes LEFT: ☐Normal axillary, ☒Abnormal axillary, ☐ Abnormal internal
mammary

RIGHT BREAST

Narrative: No suspicious enhancement or lymphadenopathy. There is focal susceptibility artifact in the superior right breast compatible with a biopsy marker clip.

Associated findings RIGHT breast: ☒NONE, ☐Nipple retraction, ☐Nipple involvement, ☐Skin retraction, ☐Skin thickening, ☐Skin invasion-direct, ☐Skin invasion-inflammatory, ☐Pectoral muscle invasion, ☐Chest wall invasion, ☐ Architectural distortion

Non-enhancing findings RIGHT breast: ☐NONE, ☒High ductal signal pre contrast T1, ☐Cyst(s), ☐Hematoma/seroma, ☐Post therapy skin/trabecular thickening,
☐Non-enhancing mass, ☐Architectural distortion, ☒Signal void from clips

Fat containing lesions RIGHT: ☒NONE, ☐Fat necrosis, ☐Hamartoma, ☐Post-operative seroma/hematoma with fat

Lymph nodes RIGHT: ☒Normal axillary, ☐Abnormal axillary, ☐ Abnormal internal mammary

Extramammary findings: None

SUMMARY:
1) Extensive non-mass enhancement throughout the left breast measuring up to 11 cm on MRI, larger than the extent demonstrated on mammography or ultrasound. The abnormal enhancement extends anteriorly to involve the nipple and periareolar skin.

2) Biopsy-proven malignant level I axillary adenopathy.

3) There is no internal mammary adenopathy.

LEFT BI-RADS: 6: Known biopsy-proven malignancy: Surgical excision when clinically appropriate

RIGHT BI-RADS: 2: Benign: Routine breast MRI screening if cumulative lifetime risk =>20%

RECOMMENDATIONS: Follow up with the surgeon or medical oncologist.

Case Discussion

Faculty

Petra J Lewis, MBBS

Professor of Radiology and OBGYN

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center & Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Sheryl G. Jordan, MD

Professor, Department of Radiology

University of North Carolina School of Medicine

Ryan W. Woods, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Radiology

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Tags

Women's Health

MRI

Breast

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