Others with Mx with <1mm Margins for DCIS

Hi Laura,

First off, I'm very sorry that you have to go thru all this, I went thru the same thing. I thought, oh, I had a mx, no more treatments - it's early stage - you're cured. So, I was a bit angry when I was told that I needed more treatment. 

So, I  had 3 differnet areas near my chest wall where my margins  were less than 1mm & 1 of them that was less than 1/10 of 1mm, but they weren't able to do a reexcision b/c they couldn't tell where they all were (I had multi-centric, multi-focal dcis), so it was strongly recommended that I do radiation. I went  to a tumor board as well & they also recommended it. 

So, I did do it, I don't remember how many, maybe 28. I think it was 5 1/2 weeks. Unfortunately, I didn't do the boost though. i go back on forth on that one - sometimes I'm happy that I didn't do it, and sometimes I'm upset that I didn't do it, b/c I've heard that if you don't do the boost that it isn't as beneficial. But, my skin wasn't doing so good, so they let me stop at  the 5 1/2 week mark. & I swear I had bolus for almost all of it, except maybe the last 5. -- Did not like the bolus. 

I had  tissue expanders in, so they overinflated me b/c the rads act like a shrinkwrap over the expanders. But, all went well for the most part. I had a saline implant at first, however I did end up having capsular contracture with it after about a year or so. So, actually, one year ago today, I had a silicone implant put in instead and they also added some donated tissue. And, so far, so good. 

At the time, I really couldn't find any info on this sort of thing. But, over the last couple of years, I've noticed that more and more women are being recommended radiation for margins this close. And, also, I've been finding more research on it as well.

I would definitely recommend a 2nd opinion though. It's a very personal decision & you have to do what's best for you. I wish you the best of luck & hope that everything works out for you.

Tara 

laurakay,

I had a bmx with  margin of 1 mm against the chest wall.  My onc recommened no radaiation.  Makes me nervous...

No, you are not.  I just bumped up a couple of threads from last year where this issue was discussed.  You'll see that a number of women have had radiation after a mastectomy for DCIS, due to narrow margins.

I just pulled out my path report from my mast and reread it.   I know some of you were wondering why I was getting rads after the mast.  I don't know why I didn't 'see' this the first time through...let's blame it on drugs!  My report says "dcis is present less than 1mm multifocally from the deep specimen margin and approximately 1mm from the anterior specimen margin"  I think the 'multifocally' aspect was the driving reason for the rads.  I know that is the one the rad onc was most concerned about.  Glad I could clear that up for me at least!