Pathology slide 2nd opinion

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nmh35
nmh35 Member Posts: 96
edited December 2014 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

Hi, I was diagnosed with high grade DCIS this week and am currently weighing surgery options with my surgeon. But before I commit to anything, I would like to have a 2nd opinion on my pathology slides to confirm that they agree it's DCIS. How do I go about this? Is there places I can just send the slides to, or do I need to make an appt with another doctor and have them have their pathologists look at them? Thanks!

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  • mel147
    mel147 Member Posts: 479
    edited December 2014

    Hi, nicole97 - I'm sorry I can't answer the question you posted since I did not get a 2nd opinion on my pathology, but I did want to share something with you that might be helpful. Based on my MRI results, I was told that my DCIS was 7.4 cm. The radiologist told me the biopsy results showed DCIS, however, he warned me that since the area was very large and they only take a small sample in the biopsy that there was a chance there would also be invasive cancer mixed in. He said they would not know that until the surgery was done and the final pathology results were in. In my case, they did find four tiny invasive tumors. I'm not sure if that helps you or not, but I guess what I'm trying to share is that in my case a 2nd opinion wouldn't have changed anything because it could have still showed DCIS and they wouldn't have know about the other tumors until later when there was more tissue to test. Good luck with everything!

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  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 3,985
    edited December 2014

    Johns Hopkins will do a second opinion on the pathlogy. My slides were sent to Vanderbilt for a second opinion. Your breast surgeon can help with that too. Here is a link to the Johns Hopkins site

    http://pathology.jhu.edu/department/services/secon...

    Take care!

    FWIW my initial slides said ADH/ALD by one local pathologist, and DCIS/LCIS by another - The results were send to Vanderbilt for a tie breaker and they said ALH/ADH

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited December 2014

    Hi Nicole,

    In addition to the helpful advice received from some of our other members above, you may be interested in checking out the main Breastcancer.org site's section on Getting a Second Opinion, for some good tips on asking for a second opinion, where to go, and more!

    We hope this helps, and good luck!

    --The Mods

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  • ballet12
    ballet12 Member Posts: 981
    edited December 2014


    Hi Nicole, I sent you a PM about Memorial Sloan Kettering, based on your other post.  If you go there for the surgery second opinion, they will also review and render an opinion on everything.  Their radiologists review your prior imaging and their pathologists review the pathology slides.  Then you meet with the surgeon to go over all of it.  It is definitely reassuring when they find concordance on the pathology slides.  Good luck.

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