IDC - masectomy or only lumpectomy?

sorchatavie

Hi - 18yrs ago at 40 yrs of age I was diagnosed with DCIS in my left breast and treated with lumpectomy and a course of radiation. Since then I have had mammograms almost every year and they have been clear. At the end of March I had my annual mammogram and was asked to come back for U/S and biopsy. I met with the oncology nurse today andwas told I have IDC in my left breast basicaly the same area previously - after 18 Yrs. Right breast is perfectly clear.

The recommendation of course is unilateral masectomy as radiation is not possible. I don't know the HER2 or Hormone receptor statuses yet.

Are there any of you who have a similar history to me and opted just for a lumpectomy the second time? If so, I would like to hear about what followed for you - have you had another recurrence, if so how long between 2nd & 3rd? If no recurrence what has the followup treatment been if any and how long you've been clear.

Moderators

Hi Sorchatavie-

We want to welcome you to our community here at BCO. We're sorry for what brings you here, but we're glad you've found us, and hope you find the support and information you're looking for!

We have a forum dedicated to surgery, where you might find more answers regarding your lumpectomy vs mastectomy questions. You can access that forum here: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/91?page=1. We also have some information on our main site that you might find interesting: http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/mast....

Either way, this is certainly a decision that you should talk over with your doctor, and work together to determine what the best course of action is. You should get some good feedback in the surgery forum, and connect with other members who can offer their insight! Good luck, keep us posted!

The Mods

sorchatavie

Thank you

Italychick

what size are they estimating the lump to be? My surgeon had me do an MRI before surgery because she said that would give her the best picture of how big the lump was. So the lumpectomy vs. mastectomy decision for me would involve size of area removed and size of your breasts. I had an 8 cm x 8 cm x 4 cm deep area cut out of the side of my left breast at the 1:00 position, and I have a dent, but nothing I am stressing about. But I am a D cup, so your breast size might matter. To me the most important thing was could they get all the cancer our with a lumpectomy, and my surgeon said she could. If she couldn't get clean margins, I would have done a mastectomy. I have seen a lot of women post that when they got in there for surgery there was more involvement than initially thought which is why my surgeon did the MRI

It is my first and hopefully last lumpectomy, so I can't speak to the recurrence issue, etc.

Best of luck, whatever you decide.

sorchatavie

Well I decided to go with the uni mastectomy and reconstruction after talking with my BS. When he explained that having only the lumpectomy increased the chance of recurrence to almost 50% I knew there was nothing to decide. I met with the PS on Wednesday; lovely lady but she scared the hell out of me explaining potential, albeit highly unlikely complications. Just waiting to be given the actual surgery date

angelia50

sorchatavie, I had uni in July of last year. I planned to have lumpectomy but further testing showed more than one issue and surgeon said it would be best. I have to admit, at times, I do wish had had done both sides but I was not prepared mentally to deal with both sides. I would think its easier physically too, to only have the one side to deal with. I completed my exchange surgery in December. As of now, I haven't done nipple reconstruction but in clothes, everything looks normal, which was my goal in the beginning. I told my plastic surgeon, I just want the two to match. I did have a lift on the natural side at time of exchange, which was something I struggled to decide, but I'm glad I finally opted for the lift. Good luck to you.