Just months after the ultrasounds results showed that she was perfectly healthy, young woman was diagnosed with advance stage breast cancer

A woman who was given the all clear for a lump that was found on her right breast just six months prior to being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer claims that the incorrect diagnosis was made because her doctors refused to do a mammography on her.

According to Insider, Kristine Stone was 29 years old when she discovered the bulge for the first time. After undergoing an ultrasound, the doctor first informed her that she did not have cancer.

After another half year had passed, more testing indicated that she did, in fact, have the most aggressive kind of breast cancer, which had already spread to her circulatory system as well as her bones. After further investigation, it was discovered that the cancer had also migrated to her brain.

Stone, who is now 38 and lives in Renton, Washington, blames the fact that she lost critical weeks during which treatment may have been started on the fact that doctors refused to give her a mammogram. She claims that she also sought to get the scans at another hospital, but they turned her down as well.

Mammograms are usually reserved for women who are 40 years old or older. However, according to medical professionals, mammograms have trouble penetrating the denser breast tissue that is common in younger women, which means that it is possible that another scan would not have been beneficial.

On the other hand, they believe that an ultrasound, which can make its way through more dense tissue, would be of greater assistance. However, the image it creates can be difficult to understand, which is why individuals who are concerned that they may have received the incorrect diagnosis should go for a second opinion.

Stone revealed to the Insider that after receiving her diagnosis, she was instantly confronted with the prospect of undergoing nine months of chemotherapy and an operation. She has been undergoing immunotherapy once every three weeks for the past nine years, but the cancer has not been eradicated. However, if they are unable to find any more malignant cells, medical professionals think the test could be discontinued this year.

When Kristine Stone, then 29 years old, noticed a lump in her breast, she went to an undisclosed hospital for an ultrasound because she was frightened that she might have cancer. However, the ultrasound revealed that she did not have the disease. After another six months of scans, she was eventually given a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer. Above is a picture of her while she was receiving chemotherapy, and she currently resides in Renton, Washington, in an apartment that is beneath her parents’ home.

Stone claims that as a result of the diagnosis, she is unable to work and also unable to read correctly. Even now, after nine years, she is continuing to undergo therapy for the cancer diagnosis.

Stone has stated that she hurried to get the lump checked out nine years ago due to the fact that at the time, her grandmother had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.

However, following the ultrasound, the former senior business analyst stated that doctors assured her there was “nothing to worry about” and refused to do a mammography on her as she had requested.

She insisted on having a mammogram, but her request was turned down. After that, she traveled to a different hospital, but her plea was turned down once more.

However, within a period of six months, she returned after the lump had grown, her right arm had become numb, and the armpit had become exceedingly painful.

She was found to have stage 4 breast cancer, which is the most dangerous variety. This was discovered through new diagnostics. She did not disclose which test she had, but given that ultrasounds are suggested for women her age and younger, it seems likely that she had one.

Stone was given the option of nine months of chemotherapy almost immediately following the diagnosis.

However, further tests found that the cancer had spread to her brain, which necessitated surgery to remove a portion of that organ. Even though the operation was a success, she is left with a loss of short-term memory as a side effect.

Stone explained that the multiple rounds of chemotherapy she underwent left her feeling weary, rendered her unable to work, caused arthritis, made it difficult for her to read, and resulted in her not having taken a vacation in years.

To this day, she still has cancer, but she is hopeful that she may be able to stop taking her medication this year if the doctors are unable to find any new cancer cells.

The image that you see above is Stone with her father. She holds the doctors responsible for the late diagnosis of her cancer because they did not give her a mammogram, while other experts say it is highly improbable that a mammography would have helped.

A mammogram is a type of breast cancer screening that involves passing low-dose X-ray pulses through the breast tissue and examining the resulting image for signs of cancer.

In most circumstances, they are able to detect tumors in their earliest stages or when they are still very small, and in other instances, even before a lump has formed. Cancer screening exams are strongly suggested for women over the age of 40 who have not yet been diagnosed with the disease.

Ultrasounds, on the other hand, are able to make their way through the “denser” breast tissue that younger women have, which is why they are recommended to individuals who are in younger age groups.

This piece of advise is supported by the American College of Radiology Appropriateness, which states that offering mammograms to younger women is “generally not appropriate.”

In addition, ultrasounds are frequently utilized in order to rule out the possibility that a mammography or physical exam have uncovered the presence of a solid tumor.

After the image has been generated by the scan, it will be analyzed by medical professionals to evaluate whether or not there are any potentially malignant cells present.

Dr. Laurie Margolies, who is the chief of the breast imaging center at Mount Sinai Health System, stated to Insider that while mammograms are beneficial, it is likely that having one ‘would not have contributed anything’ to the ultrasound that Stone had had.

However, she stated that how medical professionals evaluated the image that was produced by the scan was what had the potential to make a difference.

“Breast ultrasound is incredibly complex and extremely operator-dependent,” she explained. “Breast ultrasound is tremendously operator-dependent.” It is not always so straightforward to establish whether something is just a cyst or something more serious, such as breast cancer, for instance. It is not always easy to tell the difference between the two.

She strongly suggested that any woman who was troubled by the findings of her ultrasound consult with a second medical professional to examine the same photographs.

Women over the age of 40 who are at average risk for breast cancer are encouraged by the American Cancer Society to undergo mammograms at regular intervals (up to once a year). However, if they are beyond the age of 55, this can be changed to occur once every other year.

It recommends that women in their 20s and 30s keep a close check on their breasts and seek medical attention if they observe any changes that are out of the ordinary.

Every year, approximately X women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer, which mainly strikes women in the ages — making it the leading cause of death among women. However, X percent are found to be under the age of thirty.

More than two MILLION women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, making it one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the world.

Cancer of the breast is one of the most prevalent types of cancer found all over the world. More than 55,000 women are diagnosed with the disease every year in the United Kingdom, and the illness is responsible for the deaths of 11,500 of those women. Every year in the United States, it affects 266,000 people and claims the lives of 40,000. But what exactly triggers it, and what kind of treatment is there for it?

What exactly is cancer of the breast?

Breast cancer begins when a malignant cell forms in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts. This can happen in either breast.

An invasive breast cancer is one in which the cancer has progressed into the breast tissue that is next to the original tumor. Some patients are found to have a condition known as “carcinoma in situ,” which indicates that the cancer cells have not spread beyond the duct or lobule.

Although the majority of cases develop in women over the age of 50, younger women might also be impacted by the condition. Although it is uncommon, breast cancer can also arise in men.

The term “staging” refers to the extent of the cancer and whether or not it has spread. The most advanced stage of cancer is stage 4, which indicates that the disease has migrated to another portion of the body. Stage 1 is the earliest stage.

The malignant cells are ranked on a scale from low to high, with low representing sluggish growth and high representing rapid expansion.

After initial treatment, high-grade malignancies have a greater risk of recurrence than lower-grade tumors do.

What are the risk factors for breast cancer?

A single aberrant cell can initiate the development of a malignant tumor. It is not known for certain why certain cells develop into malignant ones. It is hypothesized that something within the cell causes some genes to become damaged or altered. Because of this, the cell becomes aberrant and begins to multiply “out of control.”

Even though there may be no discernible cause for a woman to acquire breast cancer, there are certain risk factors, such as genetics, that can make the likelihood of a woman acquiring breast cancer higher.

What signs and symptoms point to the possibility of breast cancer?

A non-painful mass in the breast is typically the first sign of breast cancer, despite the fact that the vast majority of breast lumps are benign cysts filled with fluid rather than dangerous tumors.

The lymph nodes in the armpit are typically the first sites where breast cancer spreads after it has begun in other parts of the body. In the event that this happens, you will acquire a lump or swelling in one of your armpits.

How is the breast cancer itself detected?

Initial evaluation consists of the physician looking in the armpits and breasts. They may perform examinations such as a mammogram, which is a specialized type of x-ray that looks at the breast tissue and can reveal the presence of tumors if there are any.
A biopsy is the process of taking a small tissue sample from a specific area of the body to analyze it more closely. After that, the sample is looked at under a microscope for any aberrant cells that might be present. The sample can either confirm or disprove the presence of cancer.

If you have breast cancer and it is determined that it has spread to other parts of your body, you will need to undergo additional testing. For instance, blood tests, an ultrasound examination of the liver, and chest x-rays are all examples of diagnostic procedures.

What kind of treatment is there for breast cancer?

Surgical intervention, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and hormone therapy are all potential therapeutic options that could be considered. In most cases, a combination of two or more of these therapies is employed to treat the patient.

Depending on the size of the tumor, a patient may have breast-conserving surgery or have the afflicted breast removed during surgical treatment.
Radiotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that focuses high-energy beams of radiation on the area of the body affected by cancer. This either directly destroys cancer cells or prevents them from proliferating further. The majority of the time, it is performed after surgery.
Chemotherapy is a method of treating cancer that involves the use of anti-cancer medications that either directly destroy cancer cells or prevent them from dividing and reproducing.
Hormone therapy: certain subtypes of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can promote cancer cells to divide and multiply. Hormone therapy is used to treat these types of breast cancer. Treatments that lower the amount of these hormones or stop them from doing their job are frequently used on people who have breast cancer.

Just how effective is the treatment?

Those patients who receive a diagnosis of cancer while it is still localized and has not yet spread have the greatest prognosis. When performed at an early stage, surgical removal of a tumor may then give a significant chance of curing the condition.

The increased use of routine mammography for women between the ages of 50 and 70 has led to an increase in the number of breast cancers that are detected and treated at an earlier stage.