How many of you had/will have imaging before final chemo?

CarolinaAmy

I'm being paranoid. My post-chemo mammogram and ultrasound show "very little tumor burden". That's great, but I think I have been hoping harder than I realized for a pCR, particularly since my tumor was pretty small to begin with.

So many of you have talked about your tumor responding to one type of neoadjuvant chemo and then growing/stalling on another. I have had a gut feeling that AC obliterated my tumor--after my first treatment, my MO couldn't find it. But I wonder if things just stalled or slowly began reforming during 12 weeks of Taxol. I specifically asked if I would get an ultrasound or mammogram between AC and starting Taxol, but my MO said I'd get my mammogram after finishing chemo and that's it. As long as she didn't feel it growing, we keep going.

That's great, but she could barely feel it in the first place; it's way back near the chest wall and no one else was ever able to palpate it. For her to have felt it again, it would have had to be pretty huge. I wish I could know where we were after AC as a comparison.

And the more I read, the more it seems like most women have some sort of mammogram, ultrasound, MRI, or other imaging between the start of chemo and the end of it. Is this at all accurate?

Kicks

I did 4 DD A/C neoadjuvant, 2 weeks later had UMX which got good margins. 3 weeks after UMX I started 12 weekly Taxol adjuvant. Had no Scans during those times. I did however, have a CT with Contrast the day of last Taxol. It was my Rads Dr that insisted on it before starting rads the next week.

In the years since I have had a couple of Bone Scans to be on the safe side for issues that did not seem to be possible mets -weren't. I have had 2 limited area Scans - again to be on the safe side - and both showed nothing to worry about. Unless there is a good reason to suspect possible mets, I do not want to subject my body to any unnecessary radiation.

Skittlegirl

I only got a second PET scan (first one was before starting chemo) after chemo was done.

ElaineTherese

Hi!

I got an MRI and PET scan after my final chemo. If I were you, I'd wait for the pathology report from your operation before drawing any conclusions about how well chemo performed. While it was the case that the MRI and PET scan didn't show any active cancer left, the pathology report showed that I still had a tiny pocket of DCIS. So, scans don't always pick up everything.

Finally, lots of women don't get PCRs after chemo and have a good prognosis. You shouldn't consider yourself to be an odd duck or fated to recur!

Angtee15

Hi Amy! I think manual exams only during neoadjuvant chemo with imaging after chemo and before surgery is fairly standard. I am at a large Chicago teaching hospital and that's how they do it here. I am getting an ultrasound after I finish Taxol and before I start AC because I pushed my MO for it. But that is only because I had issues with her downplaying what turned out to be a major SE and decided to second guess her until I am done with chemo. I am confident that chemo before surgery was the best approach for me.

I feel you on the freakout though. I had started my own thread called Neoadjuvant Chemo: Is it really working? Like you I had a small tumor that was near my chest wall and told my MO that I was surprised she could feel it from the get go.

My surgeon did say that you never really know how big the tumor is until you go in and take it out. And like how Elaine Therese says we just have to wait until final pathology. I've finally decided to manage my expectations for the PCR.

Deep breaths sister:) It will be OK.

Kicks

There are no 'absolutes' as to what TX should be or Scans NEEDED. All types of BC do not have the same prognosis or TX plans. We are each unique as is our DX. Our Drs are not all the same (thankfilly) so not all suggest the same TX plan.

It needs to be remembered that our individual TX plan is not what is best for ALL. Besides each individually, different types of BC have different prognosis and TX plans - and TX plans vary even within the different types.

Most IBCers will do 2 different Chemo neoadjuvant - I didn't and 6+ years I'm still 'here' and still NED (No Evidence of Disease). I did DD A/C neoadjuvant and then weekly Taxol adjuvant.

There is NO "One Size Fits All"! Or can anyone say that a certain TX plan for s the only way to go - what may 'work' for one is not what 'works' for all. Just as we each do not experience the any TX exactly the same.

Mamiya

I asked for an MRI after my first type of chemo because I wanted to know if it had worked at all and I also was worried about switching and I felt that we needed to establish a new baseline so we would know if the second chemo was working. Turns out the first chemo didwork but the second did not. I was glad that I asked for that halfway MRI so we know for sure what was or wasn't working.

CarolinaAmy

Mamiya, that's what I worry about. I wish I had pushed harder, but I don't think she would have allowed me to have an MRI; a mammogram would have been a miracle. I really regret not having that new baseline, as my gut feeling is that AC did it and Taxol may have just let things start again. It's hard to explain...