Perineural invasion

pamela6

Hi ladies,

Has anyone had perineural invasion in your pathology report? If so, did you get any clear answers from your doctors about what this means?

Thank you!

WC3

I believe it means they found that the cancer had invaded the nerve.

beeline

Hi pamela, I had it in my path report. It explained why my lump hurt so much despite everyone saying cancer isn’t painful. No clear answers from my doctors about what it means. As far as I could tell from my own research, it’s quite rare in BC. There is some suggestion it indicates an aggressive cancer, but that is just speculation based on other cancers where it is more common.

pamela6

Hi beeline!

That is what I've read too, but the studies I have found online are kind of old so just wondering if anyone here knew anything more current. Or, maybe this is just too uncommon for any good research. I had a lot of stabby pain for at least a year or two before dx. I've been off my meds (horrible side effects) and was just trying to gauge how much risk I am to stay off (I've went back on as of a couple of days ago). And, yeah, I know that trying to gauge risk is like Russian roulette :-/ . Thank you for you reply!

Woman1

I just got my surgical pathology report. I have PNI.

Are these the "old papers" you found on the web?

I found NCBI papers in 2006 and 2010. The presence of PNI is associated with higher T grade, but in the end, does not affect breast cancer patients' survival rate...and there are some cancers that PNI is clearly associated with poor prognosis, as far as I read. Probably, we should look for the information on PNI in breast cancer only.

2006: perineural invasion has no prognostic value in patients with invasive breast carcinoma. look for the number 16466917

2010:Prevalence and significance of perineural invasion in invasive breast carcinoma look for the number 20175368

Another NCBI paper says PNI is associated with "aggressive tumor growth, increased frequency of recurrence, and increased morbidity and mortality."

But this paper is about studying non malignancy PNI, using the generic term "cancer," and I am not sure if this author concluded that PNI is associated with "aggressive tumor growth" from its own study.

2010

Perineural involvement: what does it mean? Look for the number 20526173

But there's a 2014 Chinese study that says "Nerve Fiber invasion ..is associated with progression of malignancy".... "warrants further study."

2014 Nerve Fibers in Breast Cancer Tissues Indicate Aggressive Tumor Progression

(I cannot copy paste links, the system says.)