Clinical vs Pathological stage

Nimm

I understand the difference between the two but would like to know if the two will differ greatly? I was told by oncologist that I am clinically stage 1 and awaiting surgery. I know surgery will tell us more but just wondering what others experience has been. Has your pathological stage been completely different from clinical stage?

muska

Yes, and this is not rare. I was initially told I had a very small tumor and no evidence of invasive cancer as confirmed by pre-surgery MRI. Surgical pathology showed significant lymph nodes invasion and I needed both chemo and radiation.

jessica749

Yes, and it works more favorably in reverse. Pre surgery imaging showed over 2 cm abnormality in imaging; post surgery pathology showed less than 1 cm invasive. Many on these board speak of treatment and diagnosis based on pre surgery testing which I never understood, as the reality can differ from the imaging and sampling, and the reality can't be known as fully as it is post surgery.

Nimm

I had a mammo, ultrasound, another mammo, biopsy of tumor and prominent node(lymph node was negative), and clinical exam by oncologist. But am afraid that results will change drastically. Hoping for the best outcome but preparing for the worst:(

muska

Yes, clinically was assessed as stage 0, post surgery - stage 3a. It happens but this does not mean it will happen to you. 

Lenn13ka

Clinically Stage 1 Grade 1 but after surgery Stage 2a Grade 2/3. After that I had an Oncotype done to decide on chemo/no chemo. I don't think you have any real answers until after surgery. I also had 3 different pathologist read both my needle biopsy and surgical specimen and they all differed somewhat!

Good Luck with everything.

juneping

the DX of the nature of BC was the same before and after the surgery. the stage was very different after the surgery.

on US, my tumor was about 1cm and after the surgery it's more than 6cm. so i jumped from stage 1 to 3.

CTMOM1234

Yes, clinical diagnosis was dcis grade 2.  Pathology after lumpectomy was stage 1 grade 2.