This may be a stupid question, but

Moopy23 said:

Well....
Not necessarily. A small tumor can also be a very aggressive cancer that was caught early.

Hope this helps some, Diane.

p.s. Just wanting you to know there are no stupid questions here.

I agree with Moopy, there is
I agree with Moopy, there is no such thing as a dumb question. I was thinking along the same lines though as you, that the larger tumors seemed to be the most aggressive because they seemed to always take chemo. Like any tumor over 2cm is always given chemo. I do think that is the norm, isn't it?

Kylez said:

I agree with Moopy, there is
I agree with Moopy, there is no such thing as a dumb question. I was thinking along the same lines though as you, that the larger tumors seemed to be the most aggressive because they seemed to always take chemo. Like any tumor over 2cm is always given chemo. I do think that is the norm, isn't it?

Perhaps it is not that they
Perhaps it is not that they are more agressive but that they have spread more and there is more of a chance that small cells have escaped into outlying tissue or into the vessels. These are small cells and I am thinking that the larger the tumor the less contained it might be. And Moopy is right a small tumor could be a grade 3 (poorly defined) and therefore more agressive. So much goes into deciding treatment. I think that based on past studies and recurrences they have 2cm as a cutoff for definitely doing chemo and for tumors less than that they look at everything in the diagnosis. Again, just my thoughts.
Stef

Jeanne D said:

It is interesting, isn't it,
It is interesting, isn't it, to read how everyone's bc is so different.

The main thing I knew for sure, was that any tumor over 2cm was treated with chemo. I remember just praying, please let mine be under that. And, thank goodness it was a lot less.

You really don't know a lot until after surgery, like Susan wrote.

No question is ever stupid!
No question is ever stupid! So ask anything, anytime!

Hugs, Kristin

tommaseena said:

My tumor
My tumor was under 2 cm but was DCIS with invasion. Turned out to be aggressive type brc HER2 neu+ so chemo was the option for me.

Margo

my tumor was small
IDC and DCIS, only 1.4cm with 5 out of 5 nodes clean, stage 1 grade 2 intermediate, ER/pr+ HER2-, all good signs but besause of my age (45) my surgeon thinks the onco will recommened chemo.

Guess I'll find out soon now

But I agree with Jeanne, it just goes to show that we are all different and so are our Drs.

Aurora

It is not only large tumors
It is not only large tumors that necessitate chemo. Generally most invasive tumors over 1 and a half cm usually get chemo even with negative nodes. Mine was 1 and a half cm and my nodes were negative and I had 8 rounds of chemo. I think the pathology of each tumor also comes into play.

jnl said:

Aurora, I wouldn't think you
Aurora, I wouldn't think you would have to take chemo. Does age really have something to do with it? There are others here older, with bigger tumors and they aren't taking chemo. This is confusing.

I know it is for me too
Maybe the re-incission they did yesterday has something to with it, I still don't know if the margins came back clean or not yet. Probably won't til Monday.

If they do, then when I see the Onco, I'm going to request the Oncotype Dx test, just to see what my scores are. I think that should probably be included in the dicision making process for me and the Oncologist. My surgeon says that because I'm still young (45 LOL) and pre-menopausal that I have more time for a reaccurance, and that's what leads her to think that the Onco will recommend chemo.

From everything that I've read here I would think chemo may be questionable too. But I guess we'll see, if they tell me that I should do chemo, then I will, I want to conquer this beast, by whatever means I have to use.

Aurora

Kinda wondering what I'll look like bald too :0 (sorry that's just the pain meds still working) LOL

survivorbc09 said:

The others are right, there
The others are right, there is NO dumb question. And, I admit that I thought the same thing. I thought that the larger the tumor the more aggressive it is.

May I ask why you had chemo Eli? Your tumor was under 2cm and your nodes were negative.

My tumor was .4 mm and in
My tumor was .4 mm and in two nodes......chemo for me!! Everyone kept telling me it was nothing!! LOL

Avoided
Diane - I have not responded to your post simply because I had no clue but I think it's an excellent question with interesting information. I always learn so much in here!
KC