Mucinous Carcinoma that is HER2+

Shellybean

I am looking for anyone that has been diagnosed with mucinous carcinoma that is her2+. My doctors are going around about doing chemo first or surgery first, what did you do?

SpecialK

I wanted to answer you since this is your first post and the weekend can be a little more quiet here!  Mucinous breast cancer is somewhat rare, and since even in the most common forms of breast cancer, Her2+ only occurs about 20% of the time - I think you may find few here who have mucinous that is Her2+.  Are your doctors debating neoadjuvent chemo to make your tumor smaller, to be able to use Perjeta (which is currently only FDA approved for use prior to surgery in early stage breast cancer), or because they want to be sure that chemo and targeted therapy together are working on your cancer - or a combination of these?  For most recently diagnosed cases of Her2+ breast cancer that is 2cm or larger, regardless of type, there is a move to neoadjuvent chemo/targeted therapies in order to take advantage of the benefits of the addition of Perjeta.  I was diagnosed prior to the approval of Perjeta so I had chemo and Herceptin after surgery. 

Shellybean

My 2nd visit with the surgeon he informed me that we would do neoadjuvent chemo with projeta, then at my first appointment with the medical oncologist she said that she wants to remove the tumors(I have 2 in the left breast) first to determine the correct type of chemo to use for treatment. The tumors were first measured on an ultrasound to be 3cm and 1cm, nothing showed up on the mammogram. The surgeon had ordered an MRI and from what I understand the measurements aren't the same. I think maybe they are unsure of the actual size?

Thanks for answering!

SpecialK

It is not uncommon for there to be discrepancies in size depending on the imaging modality - my 2.6cm, very palpable, mass also did not show on mammogram, did show on ultrasound, and did show on MRI, but my .5cm positive node did not show on MRI.  It may that because of the rarity of your situation your MO would like to have surgical pathology to rely on rather than biopsy info - which often does not present the full pathology picture.  It is possible that you can receive adjuvant Perjeta if your MO speaks with your insurance company and explains why doing it neoadjuvently is not the best choice for your individual situation.  I have seen others here on BCO who have been able to do that.

Shellybean

Thank you for the information, this is all so new and it's nice to speak to someone who can relate.

Lemint

Hello Shellybean, I also had mucinois carcinoma that was Her2 positive. I had a mastectomy on October 29th and am currently going through chemo. My treatment is THCP. I've had 2 treatments so far, my third is this Thursday. Feel free to ask me anything or PM me.

Shellybean

Thank you for the response. I just returned from the hospital this evening after a bilateral mastectomy with tissue expanders on Wednesday. Pending the pathology we are still planning on a year of chemo.

Lemint

I hope you get some rest. There is so much support and comfort on this site. Let us know how you are doing. I'll be thinking of you.

Shellybean

With surgery behind me I have had 2 fills done to my tissue expanders and I must say they hurt worse than the mastectomy!

There were 3 separate tumors in the left breast, all mucinous carcinoma. I am scheduled to have my port inserted on the 9th and will have my first chemo on the 11th.

6 rounds of THC and then another 11 rounds of just the herceptin.