reddish brown breast discharge

On 11-24-08, I had a core biopsy on my right breast. The report came back as follow: Fibroscystic changes including usual type intraductal hyperplasia, apocrine metaplasia, and dense fibrosis--negative for malignancy. On 12-17-08, I had a total hysterectomy w/ removal of both ovaries. I did a breast exam on the 24th and from the right breast there was a reddish brown discharge. I was just wondering if this could possibly be a side effect from the meds that I'm taking for the hysterectomy, premarin-HRT, and tramadol for pain. Has anyone ever heard of a person getting a infection after having core biopsy.

Hi It's certainly possible, but rare. I would talk with your DR about the discharge. Is it still doing it, or was it a one-time thing? The red-brown discharge during an exam could be lots of things, but the two most likely explanations are, imho: (1) a little blood in the duct from the core biopsy procedure itself; or (2) an intraductal papilloma, which is a benign growth inside the duct.

I had one of those (intraductal papilloma) myself once - I bled from the nipple one day while toweling off after a shower, and then not again. My DR told me that if it kept happening, we'd remove that duct and biopsy it just to be safe, but that 99% of the time those things are benign, kind of like little pimples inside the duct that pop every now and then.

Let us know what the DR says, OK? And try not to worry.

s,
-Linda