mastectomy/ with lat flap possible cancer again

cwoodhurst

I have not posted on here for quite some time. I was diagnosed 04/2005 with DCIS high grade with comedo changes. After 3 trys for clean margins and 2 oncologists suggestions I had a left simple mast with lat-flap reconstruction at same time.
My dilemma is I went for mammo ,Then compression spot on left reconstructed breast. The tech told me she wanted me to see my films to show me how much breast tissue I have.

She showed me that all of my cleavage area is breast tissue and under side is also.She said of course this is the muscle. But all around it is breast tissue.she said she had never seen someone have this much tissue after having a mast. So now I am going back to surgeon on wed for consult for biopsy.
Has any one else had this problem. I thought I would not have to be going thru this again unless it would of came back in chest wall or something. I am really Po' d.

My surgeon and plastic surgeon worked together on this and neither one of them ever said we left a lot of breast tissue in there. Now if this is something what do I do now?
Before I had no lump just calcifications. Please let me know what you think about this.

nosurrender

Hi GG,
Sorry I didn't see this sooner, but I haven't been online...
I actually saw my onc today and he told me that HE considered the chest muscle "breast tissue" even though, technically it isn't.
So maybe that is what your doc is referring to?

However, I have a dear friend who had bilateral with implants and she developed a lump on her scar line. They simply removed the lump and radiated it. The implant held up ok with the rads and she is fine now, that was four years ago. So *IF* anything ever crops up again- and I pray it doesn't for you!- it is treatable!

I hope this helps.

Erica3681

My breast surgeon recently told me that sometimes she has to redo mastectomies by other surgeons as some leave too much breast tissue. Perhaps that's what happened in your case. I had bilaterals and I'm thin. When you look at my chest, it's pretty much skin and bones--there's no fat there and my surgeon removed every possible bit of breast tissue. I've seen photos of other slim women who seem more padded and I wonder if the docs have left a little breast tissue behind.

cwoodhurst

Nosurrender,Thank you for Replying. I mean actual breast tissue, meaning I do not think they removed enough. I had Lat flap but with no implants.
Erica, That is exactly what I asked my Family doctor. So what do I do now Have another mastectomy if something is positive? He said you need to speak to the surgeon.I did not think I would have to worry about something in the actual breast. I was thinking if something would come back it would be in the wall.

I went to my surgeon on wed. My daughter talked to him about the breast tissue he said all breast tissue was removed and all that is there is the muscle and fat tissue from the back. I had my core/ Mammetone biopsy today so now we wait for the results. They left a marker in there so they will know where it was. The lady that gave my mammo last year told me we don't do mammos on reconstructed breast. well maybe in most cases they don't but I guess mine isn't like most cases.Thank you both so much for replying, I will keep you updated as soon as I hear the results

Erica3681

gardeninggrandma,
It sounds as if you're asking all the right questions and doing everything you can to take care of this. I'm hoping your results are benign. Please let us know.

Lauralynne

Hi Gardening Grandma-
I too had a left side mastectomy with lat flap six months ago. After the swelling had gone down, my left side looks like a small breast but is made of muscle and tissue from my back.....all the breast tissue was removed. All that remains is some skin to which the lat flap was attached. I plan to have a small expander put behind the lat flap when it is time for reconstruction, but it really looks like a breast just the way it it (well without a nipple of course). I was told I would not need mammograms because this is not breast tissue anymore--muscle and fat only. I am pleased with the lat flap I had done.

What exactly did they find when they did a compression view of your lat flap? What did they biopsy? Skin from the surface, or something deeper inside the flap?

Lauralynnie

nosurrender

GG,
When I had my bilateral done the surgeon removed or as he said "hollowed out" the tissue under my arms to about 6 inches down because that is considered breast tissue. I am wondering, when they do that lat flap don't they slide the muscle under the arm to the front to make the breast? And if so, is THAT the breast tissue that wasn't removed but rather moved WITH the flap?
I hope all is well with your tests... I can't believe after going through all you did you are back to mammos and cores again!

SOMYLUCK

Hi there. I had a bliateral skin sparing tram flap done almost a year ago now. I do have some tissue that was left behind and my understanding is, it's due to the skin sparing??? My problem is after the procedure, my margins were positive. This is where my surgeons questioned whether or not they should have done the skin sparing. They were thinking, the margins would be clean, of course. Anyway, because of the margins being dirty ,I had to have 37 treaments of rads. Been done for about 3 months now.

Hope_M

I think that it is Dr. Susan Love's book which notes that it isn't really possible to remove every bit of breast tissue.

However, a good surgeon who is experienced with mastectomies can remove most of it. IF the technician who discussed your scan with you is correct, then you may want to consult another surgeon. However, I have not known a technician to discuss test results with a patient before. Was it really the tech, or was it the radiologist? If it was the tech, then I'd ask to speak to the radiologist to confirm the tech's assessment.

Sounds as though you need some peace of mind about this and second opinions may help.

Best of luck,

Hope M.