What does intermediate suspicion of malignancy mean?

Question

I had a mamm that lead to an ultrasound. A 7mm round mass was discovered in my left breast. The report said that it has an intermediate suspicion for malignancy. I was told I need a biopsy and I see the surgeon this week. My Primary dr. said they would probably do a surgical biopsy. I know malignant is cancerous, has anyone else had the same or similar report? I am getting nervous.

Answer 1

The Birads score would be very useful. In that absence of that, then yes, as the other poster stated, the "odds" are that it is not malignant.

Answer 2

Intermediate suspicion basically means they think it could be cancer, or it couldn't.  They basically don't know.

I had a knee MRI last year and had a 4mm mass found.  On the report it said it was probable to sarcoma (a soft tissue cancer).  After a biopsy; it wasn't.  And then this last MRI I had done, the radiologist said it could be PVNS (what caused my tumor); it wasn't.  Radiologist just have to cover their tush and have to say a mass "could be cancer" for insurance purposes.  That allows them to do more testing (biopsy).  If they said it wasn't malignant and then it turned out to be; you could sue them.  So; they are just covering their bases.  Just take a deep breath and just don't worry about anything that hasn't happened yet.  Wait for the biopsy results.

Answer 3

An intermediate suspicion means the docs can't tell anything about the mass unless it is biopsied.  This is really the whole purpose of mammography - to use the screening to find any mass that are obvious problems or ones that need to be biopsied as a precaution.  The majority of masses characterized like this turn out to be non-malignant.