A Surveillance Asymmetry Near a BioZorb Marker Was Benign Scar and Fat Necrosis
This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Subtype
- Invasive Ductal Carcinoma
- Biomarkers
- ER-positive; PR-positive; HER2-negative.
- Sex
- Female
- Treatment
- surgery, radiation and surveillance
- Outcome
- Care Ongoing
Treatment course, step by step
- Left breast lumpectomy with BioZorb placement and negative sentinel-node biopsy was performed.
- Postoperative radiation was completed.
- Mammographic surveillance was performed every six months.
- A new asymmetry at 3.5 years was biopsied and showed fat necrosis, fibrosis, and scar tissue.
- Six-month post-biopsy follow-up was recommended.
What happened, in summary
A 67-year-old woman had a 2.7 cm mass detected at the 12 o’clock position of the left breast. Biopsy showed grade 2 invasive ductal carcinoma that was ER-positive, PR-positive, and HER2-negative.
She underwent left lumpectomy with placement of a BioZorb marker. Sentinel lymph nodes were negative for malignancy, and she completed postoperative radiation. Mammographic surveillance was then performed every six months.
Three and a half years after surgery, imaging showed a new asymmetry at the 12 o’clock position, along the lower edge of the resorbing BioZorb device. The location near the treated tumor bed made it important to distinguish a benign postoperative change from local recurrence.
Stereotactic biopsy showed fat necrosis with adjacent fibrosis and scar tissue. The pathology was considered concordant with the mammographic finding, and a six-month post-biopsy mammogram was recommended. The case illustrates how resorption of a BioZorb marker and healing around a lumpectomy site can create evolving findings that require continued imaging follow-up.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by PMC / PubMed Central. Read the original in full
How we source and attribute stories Accuracy and limitations
Collections this story belongs to
- ER Positive Breast Cancer 242 stories
- Lumpectomy for Breast Cancer 208 stories
These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team. Read the full disclaimer