Neoadjuvant chemo

I did the neo adjuvant chemo as well. I started with a 8cm tumor / no nodes and the chemo shrunk it to about 1.3cm x 1.3 cm. My surgeon was able to get clear margins and the breast was gone...

Be carefull with the pre surgery scans MRI's ect..they can be misleading. Final surgery will tell the whole picture.

Sounds good the chemo worked..yipeee!!

Hi Laura, :O)

My MRI was NED post chemo. But my path came back with a tiny spot of DCIS  in breast and .04 size tumor in one node. I was told I had multiple nodes prior to chemo. But again they really never will know how many when chemo is done first.. 

Thats refreshing to know Lexi. Because I had estimates from 2-8 nodes according to various doctors..I did have a horror of a false positive after my first MRI. The whole left side of my right breast lit up like the fourth of July. I kept telling them I had my period full force when I had that MRI, but i was sent for a wire guided biopsy anyway. THAT was a nightmare. They got me all hooked up, wired up and drugged up and after 20 minutes in the scan they could not find that area. So Yes, the false positive with MRI scans is a huge problem. They also did ultrasound and made me do headstand in the mammogram to try to find out what that was..Thankfully it was gone. I think it was the surge of hormones from my period. I also did needle biopsy on 2 nodes and only one came back positive. They never sent the other to the lab though. SO I hope you are right.

Hi all,  I had a complete response with neoadjunctive TCH (Taxotere and Carboplatin every 3 weeks X 6; Herceptin weekly through week 18 and then every 3 weeks for a year).  After last TCH cocktail, my MRI showed no tumor.  Lumpectomy done...Pathology showed no tumor, no cancer and SNL biopsy was negative.  Original biopsy was ER/PR - and HER2+........THANK YOU HERCEPTIN!!

I had my first MRI to assess the impact of my TC chemo regimine on 8/24.  My first infusion was on 7/24.  The 2nd was on 8/14.  The MRI done 10 days after my 2nd infusion showed that the 2 smaller tumors were no longer seen and that the primary tumor had shrunk to 35% of its original volume.  My onc said this was a very unusually strong response.

I had neo-adjuvant chemo from April 10 - July 24, 2009.  I was classified as a Stage IIIb with invasive ductile carcinoma (worrisome for inflammatory breast cancer since I had edema and pocking on the skin surface of my left breast) and one lymph node involved (swollen 3 cm pre-chemo). The 2 IDC tumors they found via MRI were 8.5cm and 6cm. I received 6 rounds of Taxotere and Carboplatin (every 3 weeks).  I will be on Herceptin every 3 weeks until April 2010.

By the end of the 2nd chemo treatment, an ultrasound showed my lymph node had shrunk to 1.6 cm.   By the end of the 5th chemo, they could not distinguish the originally swollen lymph node from the rest of them, it was back down to normal size.

At my mastectomy (on 8/24/09), they removed 4.69 pounds of breast tissue (left breast alone!, I'm a busty gal!) and 22 lymph nodes.  No trace of cancer or tumor was found in ANY of the breast tissue or any of the lymph nodes!  I had a complete pathologic response to the neo-adjuvant chemo and everyone (including me) is THRILLED!

I will still have radiation, as added insurance to the positive outcome.  I meet with the radiation oncologist for the first time tomorrow.

Ryder ~ my breast surgeon likes to do the surgery as close to 30 days after the last chemo as possible.  Mine was exactly 30 days!  She didn't want to give the cancer cells a chance to grow back.  It will all depend on how quickly your body/blood cells rebound from the chemo.  I was given a short course of anti-biotics to clear up a mild UTI, and was put on potassium pills to get that count up high enough to have surgery (I was at 3.2, needed to be 3.6...was on the pills for a week and on surgery day was at 4.7!)  

Alaina

Girls  your posts are encouraging,

I was also confused between choosing before or after surgery chemo, bt then we decided to do the chemo first . I did mine yesterday , so far so goo, i ahve some queestions?

My tumor is 2.7 , grade 2 , ER/PR+, HER2 + , 3 lymphnodes showed in petscan.

1-Which day is worse after the chemo? first day, 2nd , 3rd or after? What syptoms did u have?

2-What kind of chemo did u start with? I am doing  FEC ,Is this what they normally do ven if you do before chemo? I think it's gonna be 4 rounds and then another chemo which I am not sure about the name.

please let me know

i've got 4 tx of neo-adjuvant chemo left to go (AC+T), and my onc just told me she can't feel my tumor or lymph nodes at all (tumor was 3cm and so were 2 lymph nodes). I still need to have MRI and US and then surgery and pathology to be sure, but it's looking good so far :-)

sofiarmf and melania:  I chose to go with the neoadjuvant treatment because the surgeon explained that opting for surgery first would mean I would not receiving chemo for six weeks.  I wanted the chemo to start chasing down anything that might have escaped.  It has also kept me positive to know that my tumor has responded to the chemo.  I won't lie...the chemo is different each time.  I have kept working and only take the day of chemo off.  The day after I am tired by the end of the day (Friday) and rest over the weekend.  The chemo nurse told me one day to take my anti nausea meds...you don't get points for having leftovers:)  Typically I am finding day 6 after is my low point.  After that I feel stronger and less fatigued each day.  Day 8 and 9 I feel normal.  With chemo I think it is the fear of how it will affect you and not knowing.  I laughingly say to friends at work that I am afraid of the chemo, but the alternative is not pretty!  Friends and coworkers I find are very curious about the effects of chemo and this doesn't bother me.  My hair became really thin 14 days post chemo, and it was hard to shave it off.  This doesn't bother me now. My first day in the infusion room I had people stop by, sit down and talk to me (could they tell I was a newbie).  Stay strong and it will go by fast/ I'm 1/2 way.  Beth

kae_md99 - This Thread is 7 yrs old. It has not been posted on, except for you, in 6 1/2 yrs. As with most of these very old inactive threads, most of the people who originally posted on it have not even 'visited' BCO for a long time/years. One can usually get more (and more current) info with a new thread about the questions and keeping questions together with as much info as possible so that a more complete reply can be give from individual experiences/knowledge.

Yes - neoadjuvaant chemo can/does shrink the 'lump'. That is the object of doing neoadjuvant chemo along with good margins and for some (IBC) to get the 'mass' (a 'nest' or 'bands') to form a 'lump'.