Just curious - who had a mx and still had to have rads?

Houndmommy

I was told that only about 10% of people that have a mx still need rads - I was one of the lucky ones (I really need to go play the lottery!).  Just curious as to how many others out there are like me.  Despite the mx and small tumors (although I had 4!), they could't get good margins both near the skin and near the chest wall.

How much does radiation help decrease the odds of recurrance?

Have a good day! Kim

thenewme

I did!  Bilateral MX and had rads for several reasons:  large tumor (5 cm), suspicious IM node, and very aggressive triple negative pathology.

Per  http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/radiation/ , "Radiation can reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence by about 70%"  although I've seen varying numbers, and the risk reduction also depends somewhat on individual characteristics.

ETA - Buy me a lottery ticket too!  I seem to just keep beating the odds too, LOL!

hymil

I did too: large tumour, narrow deep margin to chest wall, under 50 and not doing hormones. And I got an extra six weeks off work for it ...  hmmmm.

Leah_S

Rads after a mx depends on many things - size of tumor, margins, number of nodes involved. With all of those considerations, I'd be surprised if only 10% of women who have a mx have rads.

Leah

justpayton1

mx and rads here..decision based on size of tumor,node involement and family history..

kittycat

I had a bmx last year and was dx with BC again this year.  I'm triple negative and only 40 years old, so they are throwing the book at me this time.  I have to do chemo and rads.  I'm in the middle of chemo right now and probably won't start rads until October.  I am very nervous about the rads because they had to take scar tissue around my implant when they did surgery (I had 2 surgeries because they didn't get clear margins the first time).  I am terrified my implant will fail.  I worked very hard to get those implants from the tissue expander process. 

mom3band1g

I did too.  Failed lumpetomy and then mast.  I had multifocal areas of less than 1mm margins on the chest wall side and a 1mm margin skin side.  I had TE's in place during rads as well.  I just finished rads beginning of July.  I did really well with it but it was a pain going everyday.

kerry_lamb

I had a mastectomy followed by 5 months of chemo. I narrowly avoided rads because two members of my 'panel' disagreed. I had already decided to refuse rads because I can only have it once. I decided to save it for later. MUCH later

dlb823

Houndmommy ~ I also had a mast & rads.  I also had multicentric disease (4 lesions in 2 quadrants), but of more concern was an unspecified margin on a bit of tissue that contained the tiny (1mm) 4th lesion, which was not known about prior to pathology, so never marked, and extracapsular extension in my 1 positive node.  I talked to 3 different rad oncs (2 @ UCLA @ different times & 1 local) before deciding to do rads. 

I'm not sure if they ever gave me an actual reduction in recurrence risk number.  I just felt that I wanted to do everything possible to minimize the risk, and the uninked margin and extracapsular extension concerned me enough to feel that rads was the right decision.       Deanna

hrf

I had rads following mx because of the 4 nodes involved. The rad onc said that much better results to do rads. I didn't ask for the percentage. This is a change from past practice.

KittyDog

add me to that list.  never asked why. 

squidwitch42

Rads were brought up after achieving only 1 mm margin on the chest wall after mx. I had my tissue expanders in place (still do,) and I am triple negative. Luckily, rads went well for me as far as my skin.

I believe it was 70% that the radiation MD quoted.

shells43

Hi,

I haven't had rads yet, but I'm planning to because even though my nodes were negative, I had a huge tumor (right mx) and my doctor said that the nodes don't always catch all the cancer cells. Margins were clean but due to the size of the tumor he would feel better if I had the radiation. I don't want to take any chances either. Maybe some cells got out during the biopsies (3) or mx. It was my choice though.

Artemis

I had mx and rads due to having a large tumor that was grade 3 and being under 50 years old.  Radiation was part of my treatment plan even before we knew I had one positive node; I was going to have rads no matter what happened with the nodes.

weety

Add me to your list!  My reasons were small margins for the IDC (1mm and 3mm) as well as DCIS still present at margins after the Mx.  Also, my age (38) and grade 3/HER2+ diagnosis.