[Guest]

Dear Radiologist,
What percentage of microcalcifications (newly discovered on baseline mammos)are considered malignant? Keeping in mind that this pt has no family hx of breast CA and physical exam findings are not suspicious.

[Guest]

Tough question...
Microcalcifications detected de novo are almost always benign- in the 90-99% range. A lot depends on the appearance of the particular microcalcifications- their shape, number etc. A new cluster of microcalcifications that appears to be growing and contains calcifications of different sizes and shapes is a cause of concern while a cluster of 2 or 3 homogenously round calcifications may be okay to follow. But most of the time, we put red flags on benign things until we can be sure. We just don't want to miss an early, potentially curable cancer.

[quote] Dear Radiologist,
What percentage of microcalcifications (newly discovered on baseline mammos)are considered malignant. Keeping in mind that this pt has no family hx of breast CA and physical exam findings are not suspicious... [/quote]