How to Read Your Breast Density Biopsy report?
If your doctor suspects you have breast cancer, it is likely that you will have a biopsy to determine your exact diagnosis. Cells, tissue or sometimes the whole lump will be removed from the breast during this biopsy and sent for testing to a laboratory. A pathologist conducts this test, typically involving the examination of cells under a microscope to determine their specific characteristics.
Once the test is complete, a report will be generated by the pathologist that includes his findings and diagnosis. This report is referred to as a report on pathology or biopsy. The report may also contain results from any other screenings or tests that you have had such as mammograms, MRIs or ultrasounds. Your diagnosis is based on the information in this report, and it will help guide the many treatment decisions that you and your doctor need to make next.
Cell type: This is the designation of whether or not the cells were cancerous, and the results are listed either as malignant, meaning cancerous, or benign, meaning not cancerous. If the cells were benign in your report, you were not diagnosed with cancer. Approximately 80 percent of all biopsies turn out to be benign, according to the Johns Hopkins Breast Center. However, if your type of cell is listed as malignant, cancer was detected during the biopsy in the tissue.
Grade: Your pathologist will also include tumor cell grade information. The National Cancer Institute maintains a tumor grading scale that describes "how abnormal tumor cells and tumor tissue look under a microscope." If the cells are similar to normal breast cells, the tumor is "well differentiated" and the cancer will grow and spread more slowly than "undifferentiated" or "poorly differentiated" cells that look abnormal and "may lack normal tissue structure".
Hormone receptor status: This information refers to how the cells of the tumor are fed. Hormonally driven, a vast majority of breast cancers mean that the tumor cells use hormones that the body makes to grow naturally. Hormone receptors are proteins that may be used by the cell to grow in or on cancer cells that receive hormones.