re-incision

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dachfan
dachfan Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
My surgeon and Medical Oncologist are fine with just radiation, but my Radiologist is insisting on a re-incision, to scrape out the perimeter of an area where 2mm of cancer was found. I am dead set against this. Is there anything to back me up?
My surgeon and Medical Oncologist think the Radiologist is too cautious, but they think we SHOULD err on the side of caution. Help?

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  • simmonsg
    simmonsg Member Posts: 33
    #2
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    With your original surgery - did they not get clean margins around the tumor site? If so I do not understand going back in and scraping the area. If the margins were not clean or large enough clean, I can understand.

    I had a 1.5mm lump removed, tested and it was found cancerous. The margins around the tumor site where not large enough for the surgeon and medical oncologist to feel comfortable so when we went back to do a lymph node check they did a re-incision and just took out more tissue around the tumor site. That came back fine. That helped them to decide the exact amount of treatment I needed. I was not crazy about them doing the re-incision, but I never wanted to say later - "What If". Get a copy of your pathology report and have your medical oncologist go over it with you and ask about the clean margins.

    Good luck.....
  • Snookums
    Snookums Member Posts: 148
    #3
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    My left breat was removed in Jan. In Feb I had to be reopened for the expander to come out due to infection. Now, In Sept, I went to have it opened yet again to restart the expansion. Yes, I will have it reopened once more for the permenant implant. I don't know your exact situation but I wanted to say I have had no problems with being re-incisioned. I just decided it was part of the process and I would do it. You are smart to question a surgery and it is your SURGEON's job,you pay them for- to help you understand and feel comfortable. It seems that your Radiologist has a strong opinion and if it were me, I would bring it up to my surgeon as to WHY the Radiologist feels that way and then, go with the surgeon's opinion since he/she is the one who would be doing the surgery. If after that the Radio. brings it up you can confidently say- I have met with my surgeon and we as a team feel it is not necessary at this time but thank you for being concerned. Good Luck and Prayers to you
  • senabel
    senabel Member Posts: 7
    #4
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    This is a tough one, I went thru something similar, just before radiation and after chemo, it looked like the margins were not clean. A mere 2 cm lump I was faced with mastectomy not lumpectomy anymore. Looking at the statistics for recurrence...I opted for mastectomay, not just cleaning the margins...i wanted the lowest recurrence percentage. I was not going to go thru another round of chemo. that was 7 yrs ago, i am 48 today and have not felt any better. hope this helps. maybe not what you want ot hear but it has worked for me. Good luck, and lay back it never is as bad as you think it is....if you do YOGA that helps a lot, xxxx senabel
  • dachfan
    dachfan Member Posts: 4
    #5
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    Thank you for your insightful answers. A colon cancer survivor (one year and counting!) directed me to this site and I think it's wonderful. Many, many thanks. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions as I navigate this strange new world. I'm glad there are people out there to generously give advice.

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