Just Diagnosed With IDC

The information I've read on this seems to be mixed.  Here's one study that suggests that whether radiation provides a benefit depends on whether the cancer is ER+ or ER-, and if it is ER+, whether Tamoxifen is taken (in which case radiation may not be required):

Emerging Trends in Radiation Therapy for Women Over 70 With Early Stage Breast Cancer 

There are a number of individual factors that need to be considered, other than just age.  A 5mm tumor that is HER2+ is quite different than a 5mm tumor that is HER2-.  ER-/PR- is quite different than ER+/PR+. Margin size is critical.

An ER+/PR+/HER2- small low grade tumor might present a very low recurrence risk (local recurrence) if the surgeon is able to achieve wide margins (ideally 1cm) but the recurrence risk might be considerably higher if the margins are narrow. Similarly, even with good margins, an ER-/PR-/HER2+ tumor would present a greater risk.

How you view risk also comes into play.  For one woman, a 10% risk of local recurrence is too high and she's willing to have radiation to reduce the risk to 5%. Another woman is fine with a 20% risk of local recurrence and is happy to pass on radiation.

With a 5mm tumor, unless it is HER2+, it's highly unlikely that chemo will come into the mix. So the question hopefully is only about radiation and hormone therapy and that's when you have to consider these other factors.  My mother was 80 when she was diagnosed with a similar size tumor to yours.  She had a re-excision so that they could widen the margins and with that, it was determined that she would get little benefit from any additional treatments. With luck your situation might be similar, if you have wide margins after surgery and if the pathology is favorable. But your situation could be different, if wide margins can't be achieved and/or if the pathology is different.

Something else to remember is that until you have your final surgery and all the cancer is removed, you can't be sure of your diagnosis.  Grade can change (a tumor can be more than one grade) and the size can change.  So do your homework but realize that you really can't make this decision until you have all the facts.  And that won't happen until after surgery.   

Hi Kaara.

Sorry for your news.  You might want to talk to more than one oncologist to make sure you are confident in the treatment path he or she recommends.

I didn't care for my first oncologist at all!  My second one was much better, and was in agreement with the surgeon & radiation oncologist.

Best of luck.  Please keep us posted. 

Kaara - good luck to you.  New here too and I'm a little overwhelmed with all information and options due to the many different faces of BC. 

Lynzey4 , you really have a load on your plate.So many decisions make me want to throw up my hands and say "to heck with it.  Do what you want to or do nothing.  Then I come to my senses and know it doesn't work that way.I see your posting was written back in November so you are well into whatever you decided to do.  I wanted to wish you well and send a sisterly Feeling of love to you.   tell your kids I hope their Mom will be well soon.