the probabilities

mginger

  Hello everyone,

 

  I am ''celebrating'' my 2nd year after diagnosis. 

 

  I'd like to know what is the probabilities profile of having a recurrence after beeing treated for DCIS.  If I remember well, my surgeon told me that I would be closely followed for two years after mastectomy. Does this mean that the risk of recurrence falls sharply after 2 years?

 

  I am asking this question because I would like to change job, now that the follow up tests (MRIs and Mammos) showed no recurrence. When I came back to work after my treatment,  there was no more work to me, I've been sitting at my desk doing close to nothing... I survived cancer, but my career is agonizing.

mbordo

Well, I just hit 3 years, myself...and feel like it is a big milestone!  My surgeon explained to me that with pure DCIS the recurrence risk is for "local recurrence" rather than "distant recurrence", or metastasis which all other stages need to be concerned with.  Local recurrence tends to be a result of cancer cells left behind, close margins or some other contributing factor.  Because of this, he told me most local recurrences occur within 2-3 years.  Our risk will never be zero, but considering with MX, the recurrence rate is only around 2-3% anyways, and once you get a couple of years out, it drops even more, eventually one should feel they are more than likely "done" with the whole BC thing...

Hope this helps!

Mary

Beesie

My understanding is exactly the same as Mary's.  The recurrence risk after a mastectomy for DCIS is very low (I've heard 1% - 2%) and most of the risk occurs within the first 2-3 years.  This doesn't mean that there isn't any risk afterwards, but we are talking about risk levels that are just fractions of a percent per year.

mginger

  Thanks ladies!   I guess now I can spread my wings and fly...

flyingdutchess

I was also told about the very low risk, but my breast surgeon, medical oncologist (I don't have estrogent receptors so tamoxaphen or similar drugs will do me no good) and the radiation oncologist want to follow me every 6 months for 10 years.

flyingdutchess

I was also told about the very low risk, but my breast surgeon, medical oncologist (I don't have estrogent receptors so tamoxaphen or similar drugs will do me no good) and the radiation oncologist want to follow me every 6 months for 10 years.

CTMOM1234

Ditto, Beesie and Mary. Agree with the ~2% rate, which is virtually a 100% cure. Although have heard it said that most recurrences are within 2-3 years, think once you get BC, you are monitored for life . . . and I actually find comfort in that. May we all have very long lives!

mginger

   True. I keep saying to myself: hey, stop worrying, it is virtually 100% cure... but still, I thank god I am followed by the medical team.

annie7216

Do any of your breast surgeons, at your 6 month follow-ups, do sonogram imaging of the skin? I had a bilateral and was told that I would start this next year, which would be a year and a half after my mastectomy.

mginger

     Annie7216:  I have mammos and mri every year. The first MRI I had after surgery was followed by an echography (sonogram?), since they thought they had seen some ''activity''. Otherwise, I am followed with MRI (due, like my doctor said, to my ''young age) and mammos. 

annie7216

mginger...thank you for your response. I assume the mammos are for the the remaining breast since you prob had a unilateral?

mginger

    Yes unilateral, but the MRI is bilateral since there is always a possility of cancer, even if 90% of the breast tissue has been removed.