Going in with DCIS and coming out with invasive

40wDCISnowIDC

Just wondering if there are others in a similar situation as I am in...

I had UMX and SNB and immediate reconstruction...for DCIS.

Pathology revealed 3.55 mm of invasive and 1 mm micrometastasis to the sentinel node. Highly er+ and pr+ and her2 negative (1+)

MO still considers me a DCIS patient.

But she suggested putting me on Tamoxifen 4 months after surgery, for a year or two, just so I can "rest easy."

No chemo, no oncotype, no pet scan, no further testing was recommended.

Anyone else in a similar boat?

I am worried about the surprise invasive component!

CTMOM1234

Yes, I, too am a member of the surprise invasive component club (1.75 mm of grade 2 idc listed in final pathology report along with the known grade 2 dcis), and because my lumpectomy did not include a snb at the time, I had to go back under the knife 2 weeks later for the snb and also consulted with an oncologist. Any detected idc bumps one up to at least stage 1, but I share your feelings about liking the dcis label. Managing the worrying gets easier with time -- of course the night before and day of my annual check-ups are worrisome but that is to be expected. Wishing you the best!

Annette47

I also had DCIS (<1cm) with a small invasive component, although it was smaller than yours (<1mm in my case).   My MO considers me a DCIS patient as well - he said it would have to be over 5 mm to do an oncotype test, and chemo never became part of the conversation.    I didn't have any micro-mets in my nodes but my surgeon told me before the SNB that in their practice micro-mets are considered node negative, so even if I had had one, it wouldn't have affected my treatment plan, which included a lumpectomy, whole breast radiation, and now tamoxifen.   My MO said he thought the bigger benefit to me personally from tamoxifen would be to prevent a new primary, although it should of course prevent a recurrence as well.   He basically outlined the risks and benefits and left it competely up to me as to whether to take the Tamoxifen - he would have been ok with it had I declined it.