was your stage of cancer noted on your pathology report?

melissa233

did you pathology report state what stage you were? all mine says in IDC grade 3

Meow13

No stage written down for me. Does yours state the size?

melissa233

yes it says 13.5 cm x 10 cm x up 2 cm, which is HUGE, it actually ulcerated on the skin. no node or vascular involved shockingly.

Meow13

Yes that is big. I had 2 tumors each 1cm. Mine was close to the skin.

NotVeryBrave

Mine had no stage - only info about the tissue that was taken. I wouldn't expect staging with a biopsy since that requires a lot more info about the rest of your body. Your team should be able to give you the stage after any additional imaging.

edwards750

Mine was originally staged at 2a but was changed to 1b based on change in tumor size.

Some oncologists don't get caught up in staging but let's get real who wouldn't freak out if it was Stage IV?

Diane

gb2115

I don't think the pathology report will list the stage, because staging takes into account more than just that particular pathology at the time. My stage was never verbalized to me, but it was easy to figure out.

Meow13

I don't think staging is all that important. I know several stage 3c friends that are NED. My friend Minh has been NED since 1995, she had a horribly aggressive grade 3, er postive and so many lymph nodes involved and she still is doing great.

Kicks

Stage may be suspected at time of biopsy/path. report but is not stated (at least not on my path. report). It is determined at path. after surgery. It does often change from the suspected Stage at initial biopsy on the path. post surgery.

After doing A/C neoadjuvant, I still had 19 positive of the 19 nodes removed. So was Stage IIIc. All of my Scans before neoadjuvant Chemo had shown no mets anywhere so not Stage IV so great for IBC. That was almost 8 yrs ago - still here and still a healthy NED - living and loving every day to the utmost!

There are so many variables with us individually and with our Type - DCIS/IDC/ILC/IBC- beside the Stage, ER/PR and HER 2 status.

Rundmc

I had a mastectomy 1 month ago w reconstruction. I haven't seen oncologist yet due to complications w recon. My bs said I'll most likely be on tamoxifin. Did you get your pathology report when you saw Oncologist? At follow up w bs he just said nodes were clear I didn't get a written report.

sunnyjay

Rundmc:

I am at 2 weeks post-op and haven't received my path report yet, so I asked my Nurse Navigator how to obtain a copy. She could either mail it or photocopy it. So I asked her to and leave a copy for me to pick up from the clinic. I got my biopsy path after a few days so I wondered why I didn't get my surgery path report yet. She said I could have asked my surgeon for a copy. I just thought they would offer it to me like my biopsy one...

BTW, I won't meet with my oncologist for another 2 weeks and I wanted to see the path report asap.

ready2bedone

Rundmc - my path report took about a week. I got my biopsy report after just a couple of days. The pathology report is more thorough and takes longer I believe. Mine did not include staging. My BS said they have a tumor board that will meet and look over all my information and determine the staging and treatment.

Candyapple17

I had a wire guided excisional biopsy and the staging was noted on the pathology report-

Tpralph

readytobedone: did you just have micromets in your node? wondering why no radiation? I have one positive node (they may do a full alnd now) and am told I will be getting radiation at least.  not sure about chemo yet. awaiting my mo appt. 

ready2bedone

Hi Tpralph - Just saw your question. Yes, the final pathology showed micromets (largest 2.1mm) in the adjacent intramammary node. There was some back and forth on the tumor board about staging and whether or not to consider it as node involvement because it isn't an auxiliary node. The final conclusion is that they have to stage it as IIA because of the node, but as far as treatment goes, they are proceeding as if it were stage IA - no nodes. They just don't have a different way to classify intramammary node involvement. Because it was right next to the tumor, it isn't really metastasis. My guess is that your node that was involved is further away from the tumor and that is why you need radiation. Did you do the Oncotype DX? Mine came back as 10, which is low and means no chemo either.

In answer to the original question, I see now in the final pathology report that it does say pT1c & pN1a - which means Tumor >10 mm but ≤20 mm in greatest dimension & Metastases in 1 to 3 axillary lymph nodes - which is equal to Stage IIA.

Peacetoallcuzweneedit

Melissa did you possibly have a MX --> your size actually sounds like the total sample sent to pathology, which with a MX would be your total breast and then path cuts/slices/ preps the breast tissue for slides to be examined.

chipilonadog

Your bs may or may not have had a copy of your written report yet. Your oncologist, however, will.