{"id":148,"date":"2025-05-29T17:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T17:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/wordpress\/?p=148"},"modified":"2025-06-30T10:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T18:21:13","slug":"case-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/?p=148","title":{"rendered":"Case 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contributed by: Steven J. Rockoff, MD and Diana L. Lam, MD – June 1, 2020<\/p>\n

\n

Question 1<\/h2>\n
\n

Magnification views were performed for the right breast calcifications seen on a screening mammogram:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n

What is the best descriptor for this type of calcification?<\/p>\n

A. Large rod-like calcification
B. Amorphous calcification
C. Skin calcification
D. Milk of calcium
E. Popcorn-like calcification<\/p>\n

\n

Answer<\/h4>\n
\n

E. Popcorn-like calcification<\/strong><\/p>\n

Explanation: <\/strong>These are the large, coalescent, coarse or \u201cpopcorn-like\u201d calcifications that are typical of an involuting fibroadenoma.<\/p>\n

There are actually probably two or three adjacent fibroadenomas in this location. The dominant large calcification represents the end stage of an entirely calcified involuting fibroadenoma. The smaller adjacent popcorn-like calcifications represent an earlier stage of involution in a different fibroadenoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Question 2<\/h2>\n
\n

What is the best BI-RADS assessment for this finding?<\/p>\n

A. BI-RADS 0 (Incomplete); Recommend diagnostic ultrasound
B. BI-RADS 2 (Benign); Recommend one year follow-up
C. BI-RADS 3 (Probably Benign); Recommend six month follow-up
D. BI-RADS 4 (Suspicious); Recommend biopsy<\/p>\n

\n

Answer<\/h4>\n
\n

B. BI-RADS 2 (Benign); Recommend one year follow-up<\/strong><\/p>\n

Explanation: <\/strong>A mass with this type of popcorn-like calcifications is almost certainly a fibroadenoma and benign. Having prior mammograms which demonstrate little or no change over time can increase your confidence.<\/p>\n

In this patient\u2019s case, there is gradual involution (and slowly increasing calcifications) of this fibroadenoma (image on the left) compared to mammogram five years prior (image on the right):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contributed by: Steven J. Rockoff, MD and Diana L. Lam, MD – June 1, 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":655,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/breast-imaging-teach\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}