Is this an unusual approach?

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inkblot
inkblot Member Posts: 698 Member
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Hi All:

A friend of my cousins was just dx'd with Invasive ductal bc. 7mm tumor. She had needle biopsy which came back inconclusive. She then had excisional biopsy. When I asked about her path report, she said they were "going" to do test for Her/2neu later on. She did not know whether she was Hormone + or - but had seen her report. (she works in the healthcare field) That all concerned me a bit.

I spoke w/her by phone this week and she said that the doctor is now going to do a Sentinel Node Dissection. How effective is a Sentinel Node likely to be since her tumor is already gone and all the surrounding tissue is disturbed from surgery? This all seems to be happening in a less than well-planned fashion according to the norms.

Wondering why the Sentinel Node was not done during the initial surgery and why the full pathology tests were not all done at once? She said something about their plans to slice the sample another time or two. Anyone find any of that unusual?

Her physician, she says, is the only breast specialist in town and arrived there just a few weeks ago. Am wondering about the level of care she seems to be receiving and hoping for some feedback as it seems a very different approach.

Thanks for any thoughts you can share.

Love, lighta and laughter,
Ink

Comments

  • flwr76
    flwr76 Member Posts: 7
    #2
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    I had the needle biopsy first. That came back pos. I then had a partial with the sentinal node biopsy. They are probably doing that now just to clear her that its not in her lyphm nodes. Why it wasn't done i'm not sure. At least they are doing it. Its better late than never. Did she have any kind of surgery and if so what kind? It is a bit more detailed and they will probably put her under, right? She should probably meet with the oncologist to clarify her prognosis. I know I was confused. Did they remove the tumor or did they just do the needle biopsy? Let me know...I am curious.
  • hummingbyrd
    hummingbyrd Member Posts: 950 Member
    #3
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    flwr76 said:

    I had the needle biopsy first. That came back pos. I then had a partial with the sentinal node biopsy. They are probably doing that now just to clear her that its not in her lyphm nodes. Why it wasn't done i'm not sure. At least they are doing it. Its better late than never. Did she have any kind of surgery and if so what kind? It is a bit more detailed and they will probably put her under, right? She should probably meet with the oncologist to clarify her prognosis. I know I was confused. Did they remove the tumor or did they just do the needle biopsy? Let me know...I am curious.

    Seems strange to me, but then honestly I think they are trying to kill us all. Did you know in some states it is illegal to be dignosed with cancer and then not take chemo? if indicated. Where I ask is the freedom of choice there? In my humble opinion Inkthey should have done a lumpectomy with a sentinel node biopsy and then gotten a path report on all of it at the same time. Once all that data is collected then they could have formulated a plan of treatment. My question now is where did this doc come from and does she have any suspicious history of malpractice?
    hummingbyrd
  • ClaudiaAnn
    ClaudiaAnn Member Posts: 51
    #4
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    Hi inkblot. I had a 4.5 cm. tumor that was Her+ ER+ and Pr+. The initial path report did not give all of the information at the original bx. But it did report hormone positive by the time of my surgery about three weeks later. I did have a sentinal node bx at the time of surgery. Mine was done by injecting a radioactive and color blue dye around the nipple area and tracking to the lymph node. It took over an hour for it travel to the node. I don't know, she should ask her dr. My node bx came back neg in spite of the large tumor. So, it paid off for me in that they didn't remove any more nodes. I haven't had any trouble with lymphedema. I don't know about doing the same surgery again and again. I might have a problem with that. Because of my large tumor I had a modified radical mastestocy. She really should get some positive pathology results before making decisions because that could influence her course of care greatly. I suggest get another opinion if at all possible. Even if she has to travel a bit.
  • 24242
    24242 Member Posts: 1,398
    #5
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    Tumor very small and inconclusive in biopsy so would not just do sentinal. If they removed tumor and margins clear they still maynot do sentinal and yes it takes time to check for hormonal sensative cancers, a couple of weeks to get the result if not longer.
    That disection is very good indicator with or without tumor and would do if thought it had spread I am sure and removing is when cancer is likely to seed itself as it is being removed through incision. I think the only time sentinal not checked really is if surgery done after Chemo then results wouldn't be conclusive, since chemo has changed everything. The other thing I was told in office biopsies often not as good as having done by professionsals, my surgeon told me he did them in office but often had to be done agian not as good often.
    I hope this is of some help Ink,
    Tara

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