Long term recurrence risk -node negative?

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Racy
Racy Member Posts: 2,651
edited June 2014 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

My onc says the greater risk of recurrence after hormonal therapy is for node positive patients.

I have seen a lot of recurrences on this site after completing hormone therapy. What is your experience?

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  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited January 2014

    Anyone with positive nodes has a greater risk of recurrence; on or off hormone therapy.

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  • edwards750
    edwards750 Member Posts: 3,761
    edited January 2014

    Racy - it would follow that people who have had/have positive nodes would be more at risk for a recurrence because obviously the cancer has invaded other than the breast tissue which might/cause the cancer to travel elsewhere. I didn't realize there were a lot of women on this forum who had experienced recurrence as a result of positive nodes. Of course there are several but BC is very unpredictable. Doctors can only make educated guesses based on what the know. The thing is there are a number of women who don't meet the "criteria" to get BC in the first place so you just don't ever know unfortunately. Those of us who were dx with early stage BC and low grades statistically are in the minority for a possible recurrence but it does happen. Not trying to be a cynic but I think all of us including the Stage IV ladies look for a positive opening in our DX. You do the best you can and the rest is in God's hands. Diane

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited January 2014

    Racy, you really can't use what you see on this site as an indication of what happens with treatment or what your prognosis might be.  This is a breast cancer discussion board, so it's women who are dealing with breast cancer issues who come here to post.  Over time, most women leave. It's the women who have problems who tend to stick around or return.

    Suppose 10 years ago we had 100 early stage node-negative women on this board who all took hormone therapy.  Over the years, they all stopped posting and drifted away.  Then, in the years following completion of hormone therapy, 6 of those women developed a recurrence.  Each of those 6 women returned to the board for support and started posting again.  For someone here today, we see 6 early stage node-negative women who were all diagnosed 10 years ago, who all took hormone therapy and who all had a recurrence some time after completion of hormone therapy.  So it looks like there are a lot of recurrences among women who were node negative and who've completed hormone therapy.  But what we don't see are the other 94 node-negative women who were diagnosed at around the same time and who also took hormone therapy, and who continue to do well and have not had a recurrence.  They've gone on with their lives and they aren't posting here. The women you see here are not representative.

    Your risk of recurrence after hormone therapy relates specifically to your diagnosis and the genetics of your cancer.  But generally speaking, early stage node-negative women who take hormone therapy have a pretty low recurrence rate (but of course, not zero - there will always be some who recur).  As the others have said, the risk is higher for women who were node-positive.

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