Understanding your Path report

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Kitty3571
Kitty3571 Member Posts: 48
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Hello,

I'm a 3 year breast cancer survivor...my co-worker's aunt has been recently diagnosed and had a mastecnomy. I was discussing her aunt's situation with her and how she could find out more information about what kind of bc she is diagnosed with, what stage, etc....which she has not yet received from her surgeon.

This prompted me to pull out my own path report and review it again. Haven't looked at it for years. I told her that it's kind of like your 'cancer resume' - however while reading it again after all this time, a lot of it doens't make sense to me anymore.

What determines what "stage" the cancer is? Is it tumor size?
Is this information typically listed on a pathology report?

I know that I'm Her2 and ER/PR negative but other than that, it's like a different langauge. I was trying to help someone else without realizing that I don't understand my own situation.

Thanks,
Trena

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  • Jadie
    Jadie Member Posts: 723
    #2
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    staging breast cancer
    Hi Trena
    Staging is done by tumor size, wheather lymph nodes are involved and wheather there are mets or not. There is much more to it than that. You can go to the ACS home page and type - staging breast cancer into the search bar and it will take you to a page of web addresses you can go to that will tell you what every letter and number stands for. Your path report should have all your info on it.


    Hope this helps.
    Jadie
  • Jeanne D
    Jeanne D Member Posts: 1,867
    #3
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    Pathology Report
    I think the staging is decided by the size of the tumor. And yes, that information is listed on the pathology report. Everyone should get a copy of their pathology report, not just have the Doctor tell you what it says. And, educate yourselves. My oncologist sent over the wrong information on me to the radiation oncologist. The radiation oncologist was determined that I take chemo prior to my radiation from the info he had on the papers sent by my oncologist. I knew that what he was saying just didn't sound right. So, I got copies of all of my files, from the surgeon, the ultrasounds, pathology report..everything. And, I read it all. That is where I knew for sure that the oncologist had messed up, or, as she said "oops..i made a boo boo." Yea, a boo boo that almost cost me 8 months of chemo that would have been unnecesary. So, take control of your life, of your treatment, educate yourself about everything. Don't just go along with whatever the doctor's say...they do make mistakes, costly ones.

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