What does "suspicious" mean on a mammogram report?

Should biopsy.: Radiologists categorize abnormalities on mammograms based upon the probabibility of them being cancerous. A birads-4 abnormality has a 15-30% chance of being cancerous, therefore it is best to proceed with biopsy. This biopsy can almost always be performed non-surgically, either using x-rays or an ultrasound to guide the needle into the appropriate area.

Biopsy needed: "suspicious" means suspicious for cancer. This is categorized according to the birads system as birads 4. This can be further broken down as 4a, 4b or 4c depending on the degree of suspicion.

Suspicious: Technically speaking, 'suspicious'(for cancer) corresponds to a BIRADS category 4 lesion. This implies a 2-95% chance of mailgnancy. Unfortunately this is a very broad probababilty range. These lesions usually need to be biopsied. Approximately 75% of the biopsies turn out to be negative.