Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer

rdeesides

My lady parts are trying to kill me! I am still on Xeloda for TNBC and now diagnosed with Adnocarcinoma in Situ (early stage cervical cancer). Had this happened to anyone? I’m leaning towards to with a gynecological oncologist at a teaching hospital vs just a regular gyn. My breast cancer experience has taught me to ben overly diligent.

MelissaDallas

Cervical cancer is, in general, cause by the HPV virus and unrelated. to breast cancer. I loved my Gyn Onc when I had ovarian cancer.

rdeesides

Yes my regular gynecologist told me the cervical cancer is unrelated to the breast cancer. The only correlation is that she said the HPV was probably able to go unchecked due to a compromised immune system. Cancer, the gift that keeps on giving

Icietla

rdeesides wrote: My lady parts are trying to kill me!

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Sep 23, 2018 01:10AM - edited Oct 15, 2018 01:42PM by Icietla

Icietla's Husband types this for Icietla:

[...]

My present (Stage IVB) cancer is very different -- not my ILC -- so different that its type could not be identified by regional Pathologists. My biopsy specimen from the most accessible site was then sent to a specialty diagnostics Lab for the mystifying cases. They state 90% probability that it is of a minority subtype of another (distant primary) type, and apparently singular, heretofore unknown in some of its characteristics. So it is still a (figurative) head-scratcher among all the cancers that can happen. There were only a very few other possibilities that could not be entirely ruled out, their respective probabilities only trivial.

While I appreciate that Mammography and Pap Tests are the best we have for general screening for some cancers, I do not have so much confidence in either type screening.

See, I had this body part giving me continuous troubles thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, and thirty-three years ago, for which I had numerous painful procedures and surgeries over those years. Twenty years ago, same. In the earlier years, the Doctor refused to remove the offending part, saying that if it were ever cancerous it would be needed for focus of cancer treatment; further, he insisted that I would change my mind and want to use it for reproduction. Over about the last twenty years, mostly long since my menopause, I have had recurrent dreams apparently indicating serious trouble from that troublesome part. I wondered if they were warning dreams. Soon after my ILC diagnosis I had another such recurrent dream, and I found a Doctor agreeable to removing the part.

I am living (and, I expect, dying) in a hurry, because a man who did not even know me thought he had better sense of my self-determination than I.

[...]

secondchancetoo

Interestingly enough, there are some new studies that point to a connection between high risk HPV and breast cancer. I am old enough to have seen many cancers that were thought to come out of "nowhere", actually be related directly to viruses. I am also a retired nurse.

I remember as a teenager that a gentleman lost both his first and second wife to cervical cancer. At the time nobody knew that cervical cancer was indeed caused by HPV and sexually transmitted. People naturally don't want to talk about anything sexually transmitted as a rule, so hence, much of this oncologically dangerous virus, think head and neck tumors, anal cancer, penile cancer etc.remains mostly not discussed.

knmtwins

will be starting chemo for Uterine Serous Carcinoma, after having a total hysterectomy. I wish there was a thread for those of us with Breast Cancer who now have a gynocological cancer. I just might start one.

nanette7fl

wayyyyy back in 1994 I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Back then no one made a big deal out of it, and at the time I was only 32. They froze my cervix and took sections of it over 6 weeks then I went for 6 weeks of weekly chemo. Then they said I was in remission. Stayed that way until last spring when my VA Dr said I came up positive for cervical cancer and HPV. Imagine shock!! No treatment was recommended as she was going to keep an eye on it. Then 4 months later I'm diagnosed with early stage IDC which "they say" can't be related to the cervical cancer ... too odd to be a coincident....

Jclc83

I'm tired of being the perfect host. I had invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. Invasive infiltrating Ductal Ca and DCIS of my Breast and 7/7 positive nodes. Chemoand radiation like so many of you. Undergoing 10 years of arimidex/letrozole hell and now find out (awaiting test) that I probably have cervical cancer too. Im not complaining. A lot of people are worse off. Just came back here because I have no one else to talk to. Thanks for listening.

Peacetoallcuzweneedit

I was diagnosed with BCA and Cervical Cancer in Situ the same week (like DCIS this is considered Stage 0 ) ....kicker is and was I still have never tested positive for HPV. I am either right below the threshold for positive or it came during the time during the 12mos of my annual pap and was negative by the time I had my pap and the remaining damage continued until the following year of when they found high grade dysplagia (which to get to high grade was supposed to take years and mine took less than 12mos so that is bullsh*t) ...OR I am a medical anomaly and I am the 0.1% of "other causes" - what a cluster this time was...I went to get 2nd and 3rd opinions on this. The gyn onc at City of Hope flat out told me hysterectomy now or I will be dealing with most likely worse outcomes sometime in my future....he said don't mess around with this especially with the inability to get a positive HPV test on me... he was blunt about it. Every other doc I talked to gave me the "wait and see" and some crazy crap about reproduction - I mean I was 47 at the time...It just clued me in to the experience of the person I was dealing with. My gyn onc at other cancer center was of the wait and see approach as well...but I pushed her for the hysterectomy and to see what else was not being found and that I was 47 with BCA in both breast regardless of a clinical link between the two, my family is full strange rare cancers and there is research regarding HPV being found in breast ca tumors but it is not the best research model and results vary...so that may or may not come to light (depends on research dollars and the "need" to know) The big question after the approval to get hysterectomy was "take ovaries" or not...

I chose to take them...after my surgery my path showed few lesions not found on my cervix before and hyperplasia in my uterus....my gyn onc told me after we had pathology meeting she would have done the same thing I did and hindsight it was a solid choice based on outcomes- however she said she would not have pushed based on "current standards of care" if I had not pushed her.

Peacetoallcuzweneedit

ALSO Ladies - Public Service Announcement here - if you have a history of HPV and high grade dysplagia - you need an annual anal scope and pap - good luck on this. Having an HPV related cancer puts you at increased risk ( a much higher risk unfortunately - so don't ever get off the being vigilant train or relax about it) for other HPV related cancers. One of them is anal cancer which is controllable if caught early....and no you do not have to have anal sex to get anal dysplagia. (like me and I went to docs at two cancer centers about this) It is the nature of the virus that is not fully understood. The scopes are done in a very few places and are performed more frequently in HIV clinics or where there is more care for health issues regarding Male to Male sex - obviously anal sex is one of these areas.Univ of San Francisco is considered leader in this area. I get an anal pap yearly now - I have not done a scope YET - but paps do not see the early phases of dysplagia like a scope. If your regular gyn does not know the current standards of care regarding this, then it would be a good idea to bring research to them...my docs are on board but I brought research and coincidentally they updated their standards of care about the same time. (I had to repeat my first anal pap because the doc was not experienced with it and could not get a good cell sample. )They can not offer the scope and will not discuss it because they have no place to refer me. Most women do not understand HPV and are made to feel bad about having HPV....another ridiculous part of disparities in health care for women. Men carry HPV and no there are no tests to find out who gave it to you...condoms do not fully protect you either...there are more than 200 strands of HPV and if you have had sex with more than one person then you have most likely been exposed. Typically your body handles it like any other virus you have, but there are the lucky few that will deal with this - like me (insert eye roll)

AliceBastable

Jclc83, i would love to find a support site for people who've had multiple cancers. I'm up to four, but my breast surgeon says I only get a silver medal because years ago, she had a patient with five kinds. I am more than happy to be awarded the silver! I don't even react anymore to a new diagnosis except to roll my eyes.

Spoonie77

PeaceToAll -> Thanks for the PSA. I'm glad people are spreading information about HPV and the very real expanding evidence of a link between it and BC. I've had HPV (16, 18, and a couple of others I can't remember) for the past 12 years and for some reason, possibly my many autoimmune issues, my system cannot clear it. I'm currently awaiting the results of a cervical biopsy (colposcopy) on 3 different areas on my cervix. Hoping it's not cancerous, but am very aware that since my body has had this virus for many years, it's quite possible that it contributed in some way to my BC and possibly to any future recurrences/METs. Kind of scary to think there's a virus I can't get rid of that will probably impact my cancer journey. But, only time will tell. Anyway, thanks again for sharing your info. Knowledge is power and the more that know, the more that can be proactive and vigilant.

"This study identified a very high PCR positivity of HPV DNA in BC tissue samples. HPV DNA was detected in 49.5% of BC cases and in 15.8% of NB controls, indicating a statistically significant difference between these two groups. Our results support a potential relationship between HPV infection and breast carcinoma. The OR for HPV positivity was 5.2-fold higher in BC cases than in NB cases. Our results are similar to the findings of a study conducted in Alicante, Spain, which also used embedded BC tissues 14; however, our study identified lower proportions of HPV positivity than did the Spanish study (51.8% and 26.3% for the cases and controls, respectively). In contrast, the values identified in our study were much higher than those described in a meta-analysis of 29 published studies 23, in which the prevalence rates of HPV infection were 23% in BC cases and 12.9% in NB cases." ~

Association of breast cancer with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection

"The HPV DNA was detected in 48.6% of breast cancer samples, whereas only 16.1% of controls were positive for HPV. We observed statistically significant differences between breast cancer patients and HPV presence (P = 0.003). HPV type 18 was the most prevalent virus genotype in patients. The expression of P53, RB, BRCA1, and BRCA2 were decreased in patients with HPV-positive breast cancer as compared to HPV-negative breast cancer and healthy controls. (All P-values were less than 0.05). The presence of the HPV was associated with increased inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, IL-17, TGF-β, TNF-α, and NF-kB) and tumor progression." ~

Human papilloma virus and breast cancer: the role of inflammation and viral expressed proteins

anotherNYCGirl

Hi,

I hope you are all feeling good and doing well!

I am trrrrrying to not freak out right now, and I am looking for some words of encouragement!

About a year ago I was told that I had high risk hpv. I've had 3 colposcopies (sp?) and this week I had a follow up visit. I missed a call from the drs office and now I see in results in an online portal, saying that I have squamous mucosa .

It is too late to reach the dr now. I hope I can speak to her in the morning.

I am trying not to panic, - but it's not easy.

Thank you for any help you can offer!!

anotherNYCGirl

Update, - I spoke to the PA, twice, and she said all is ok (!!) and that the dr said not to worry, - that "squamous mucosa" is not a concern! I would have deleted my original post after this news, but figured it might be helpful if someone else gets a similar report.

I hope all is well with everyone here!!