Metastasis from Breast to Peritoneal??anyone else?

Sorry to hear about your mets diagnosis. Although peritoneal mets are rare, they are not unusual for ILC, which likes to spread to unusual areas.

Trying HT before chemo is a totally resonable course of action, and probably the one I would chose if I were in your shoes. ILC is almost always ER/PR+, and it makes sense to see if you can get a good response from HT before moving on to chemo. Remember, it's not that chemo is better than HT--they just work differently. Femara is not hormone replacement--it's an aromatase inhibitor that blocks estrogen production.

It's a little disconcerting that your PET was clear, yet you have mets, but I've heard that from a lot of Stage IV ILC gals.  ILC is sneaky both when it's the primary tumor and when it's mets. 

smart,

My mom had peritoneal tumors pop up like mad when she was dying of colon cancer. She'd had breast cancer 20 years prior, stage IIIB at time of diagnosis. I now presume it was ILC, though I never got her path report. Her colon cancer was a new primary, totally unrelated to the bc as far as we know.

I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties you are going through. I hope your treatment knocks the beast away. And I hope you can get someone to trust.

Anne

The thing to remember here is that AnneW's mom had colon cancer as well as that much earlier BC - let's hope she was properly diagnosed and treated for metastatic colon cancer and that they didn't miss metastatic BC!!! Femara and other aromatase inhibitors are relatively 'new' and they work extremely well for women with ER+/PR+ Her2 - (or +) who respond. Smart23 if you have been on Femara for 2 years and have no symptoms - you are responding and that is terrific - that response can last a long time and as one of the ladies here - LuAnnH has reported - once the response starts to weaken it can be extended by adding Faslodex - so the concept of inevitable chemo is not necessarily so - some of us have been on hormonals for over 8 years and still no chemo - the good news is you are still on this treatment for at least 2 years

There is at least another poster who has mets to the peritoneum and she has posted great results on hormonal therapy - doctors can be very confusing sometimes you get better information and definitely better support right here

Fidelia

Smart,

   The reason to test now would be that if you are + for a BRCA mutation you might be eligible for treatment using a new targeted therapy known as a "PARP" inhibitor. I believe it is similar to herceptin in that it targets only what it needs to.

Please keep us posted,

Warmly,Marcia

I had breast cancer 6 years ago - stage II mestatasis radical mastecomy  .Now I found by chance and was diagnosed  to the peritoneal. I was  origionally on Tamoxfin then Femara. I was taken off Femara when I was diagnosed in the Periotenal .We tryed fulvestrant  and my counts were fluctuatingand then I was progressing. I was able to figure it out myself  without knowing the #'s because I have a tram flap from my breast reconstruction and it gets uncomfortable for me... Now I am on to the   next.... I pray something will help me.  

My partner was diagnosed with peritoneal metastasis in July 2012. She is estrogen positive stage IV and already was living with bone mets (zometa monthly) and feeling good. Now, back to chemo weekly with Taxol and Avastin. After 12 treatments and with 6 more to go CT shows "stable." But there are so many lymphs in that area, we are scared it will spread again. Want her to be comfortable, but also keep searching for trials that may help. Anyone in trials with PARP inhibitors?

Thanks and best wishes to all,

DrG

First diagnosis was at 44 years old. I am a 7 year survivor of ILC with liver mets 1.5 years after mastectomy followed by chemo. Had a liver resection and then chemo the second time. Had gone 5.5 years with clean scans. Noticed abdominal bloating out of normal and changes in bowels. Abdomen became distended and kind of lumpy. Assumed that I was just gaining weight and with all the scarring across abdomen, assumed that was why the lumpiness. Scans revealed "stranding" throughout abdomen in the peritoneal. I had just gotten clean scans 6 months before. Biopsy results showed that it was the breast cancer recurrence. Oddly enough, PET scans showed no issues! Never once throughout this entire cancer deal have my tumor markers been out of the normal range. I also have multiple lesions in my spine and in left hip. Have had 12 chemo treatments and decided that I needed a break for a couple months. Scans showed 2 new tumors, but many of the strands had holes in them, so chemo along with faslodex shots every 28 days are having some effect. I have had a lot of tumor pain during chemo and was told it meant the chemo was working. I have now been on my chemo break for 5 weeks and am having sharp pain on right side just below the reconstructed breast. Has anyone found any info on tumor pain in the peritoneal or any info on life expectancy on ILC mets to peritoneal? I have found very little info and knowing that info can help me to make good decisions about what I am willing to do at this point.

Mine is retroperineal, not in the abdominal sack. The lymph nodes are swollen on the back wall and press on the blood vessels which causes pain,. that took me to dr.

I am so sorry that your cancer spread. I am glad to hear that you appear to be responding well to the hormonal therapy

I have the same metastasis as your mom and I was wondering how the canabas oil helped and how you administer it

Thanks

Manza568