Question: My mammogram had some new calcifications and I underwent needle biopsy. My doctor said there was no cancer but that the calcifications weren’t in my biopsy. They say I need to have surgery but if everything is benign I don’t understand why? Can calcifications disappear?

Answer: I have seen this happen several times, unfortunately, so you’re not alone. The radiologist takes an “xray” of the biopsy after it is done to determine that he/she biopsied the calcifications so if their report says there were calcifications then there are several things you and your doctor can check: 1) did the pathologist “level” through the tissue block–this means did they do multiple slides through the block until it was all gone? Sometimes the calcifications are “deep” in the tissue block made in the Histology lab; 2) did the pathologist look for “calcium oxalate” which can be hard to see under the microscope unless the pathologist uses a special adaptor called a polarizer?; 3) you can ask to have your slides reviewed by another pathologist to confirm that there are no calcifications; 4) if none of these ideas help find the calcifications, you can ask if it’s possible to re-biopsy the area instead of going to surgery–sometimes this is possible, but sometimes it’s not preferable and surgery is recommended. I hope this helps.