synchronous bilateral breast cancer

mmaring6131

Six weeks ago I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma and the tumor was in my right breast and a little over a centimeter.  Subsequent tests followed, including an MRI that has now turned up another small tumor in the left breast.  It's slightly smaller than the one in the right and the original mammogram and ultrasound didn't pick it up at all.  I've still not had surgery and am waiting for the pathology report. I asked the doctor at the imaging clinic how common it is to have tumors in both breasts at the same time and he said it ins't very common. I don't know if this means the cancer has spread or if these are independent tumors.  Has anyone else had this diagnosis?  What sort of treatment plan was recommended?

Beesie

If you have cancer in both breasts, it's most likely that the each would be an independent cancer - each would be what's called a "primary" cancer.  This is because when breast cancer spreads, it's extremely rare that it would spread from one breast to the other breast.  So two tumors usually means two separate diagnoses.  And as your doctor said, this doesn't happen often. Still, the fact is that once any of us have been diagnosed with breast cancer one time, we are "high risk" to be diagnosed again with a new primary, either in the same breast or the opposite breast.  So sometimes it does happen that both breasts are discovered to have cancer at the same time.

Do you actually know yet if you have BC in your left breast?  You say that you are waiting for the pathology report... did you get a preliminary report with a diagnosis, or do you not yet know?

leaf

In this study, MRI picked up a synchronous contralateral breast cancer in about 4% of patients. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20136645

In this study, they found the prognosis of the patient with synchronous tumors was predicted by the worse tumor.  The better tumor didn't additionally worsen the prognosis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19283743

This large population-based study indicates that bilaterality of breast cancer is not associated with impaired survival. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17186359

gmm

3 weeks ago I was diagnosed with invasive inerductal carcinoma in the left breast; yesterday i was diagnosed with the same in the right, although a smaller tumor. Antone been through this and the treatment? How was it treated, and how are you doing? How long after the surgery did your treatment begin and what was first- the chemo or the radiation I haven't seen the oncologist yet Thanks

HuneyB2

I too had IDC in both breasts.  They were found on routine mammogram.  Each tumor is considered independant cancers.  Makes me think it may be more common than I first thought.  I opted for bilateral mastectomies.  Doing well.  It"s been 18 mos. 

mmaring6131

Thanks Beesie,

 Yes, the left and right breast both have IDC and are both ER and PR but some subtle differences in their grade.  I had a bilateral mastectomy four days ago and am doing okay.  I stayed overnight two nights in the hospital (never having spent a night in a hospital since birth!) and I'm happy to be home to get some rest. I don't know the pathology results from the sentinel node biopsies yet but hope to find out on Monday and then I might have a better idea of future treatment.  I'm assuming Tamoxifen but I'd be happy if I didn't have to undergo radiation or other chemo.  There is so much testing and waiting and testing and waiting...

mmaring6131

Thank you for the articles, leaf.  I really appreciate the links.

Beth10288

I have one even better not only do I have bilateral cancer, I also have a very rare former cancer that is 1-2% of cancers - Mucinous.  The doctor wants to do an heredity study on me as both are so rare.  Both cancers are very treatable so that is not an issue so might go ahead with it.  Will probably opt for radition as both tumors are so small unless the doctor strongly  feels differently.,  I do know that I will have to go in every six months for MRI's and Mammograms. 

hope1603

My mother has been diagnosed with tumor in both the breast. I read couple of article on synchronous bilateral breast cancer and it says the prognosis and the survival rate is worse than in case of unilateral breast cancer. I am looking for some hope stories on synchronous bilateral breast cancer.

GG27

hope1603,

I have bilateral breast cancer. While I did eventually progress to stage IV, I am only on second line treatment for that. Other than a few side effects, I pretty much still live the same life I have. I'm active, garden (alot) All my Dr's say that if they didn't know I had cancer, no one would ever know.

About the only thing I would change about my treatment is now I know that generic AI's cause lots of problems so I would have changed brands early on instead of going back onto tamoxifen for 6 years. That may or may not have stopped the bone mets from developing.

The first year is the toughest. Too many appts, too much new info. This is a good place to be. Ask lots of questions, statistics are horribly out of date, do not look at them. There's lots of good new treatments out there.

Heading into my 11th year since diagnosis. hugs to you. cheers, dee

hope1603

Hi GG27

Glad to know your inspiring story. Wishing you good health for always.

I didn't understand the lines on "About the only thing I would change about my treatment is now I know that generic AI's cause lots of problems so I would have changed brands early on instead of going back onto tamoxifen for 6 years."

So do u mean that tamoxifen was a better option and that you should have continued it from the early on ?

Which brands are better and which ones do u recommend ?

GG27

Hope1603,

What I meant was that when I tried letrozole early on, after I'd been on tamoxifen for about 3 years & had such a bad time with it, that I went back to tamoxifen, stayed on it for 6 years & it eventually let me down allowing mets to grow in my bones. Part of me wonders if I had known back then about changing brands to alleviate SE's that I wouldn't have become stage IV. I went on a trial 3 1/2 years ago that used letrozole & because of my issue with it previously my MO put me on name brand Femera & it was life changing for me. Almost no SE's at all.

I honestly can't remember what brands of tamoxifen I used but if one brand is causing you lots of problems, ask your pharmacy to try a different brand, I had to change a couple of times. Quite often it is the fillers that cause the problems not the drug itself.

I hope that makes sense. good luck, cheers, dee

SummerAngel

I had synchronous bilateral cancer, just about 4 years ago now. I'm doing great. A lot of the studies are outdated or from countries where a lot of cancers are caught late. From what I've been able to find, there is a slightly higher risk with bilateral but it's so small it's not worth worrying about.