Do you regret having a lumpectomy for DCIS?

skeptic,

I am in an entirely different position than you are, so forgive me as I have no personal experience in this. There are quite few discussions of "watching and waiting" on these forums. Use the search function to locate them. I do have a question for you. Since no one knows which cases of DCIS will become invasive, what would you be watching and waiting for? Are you saying that should it become invasive, then you would act? Personally, I would rather have a lumpectomy and some possible distortion of the breast, than treat invasive bc. Also, I know that you must be aware of the fact that a biopsy sample may not tell the whole story. Many women turn out to have IDC hiding in the DCIS, but without surgery they would have never knownthis. Wishing you the best with whatever you choose.

I had 3 lumpies till be got clean margins, then did rads, and recently finished my 5 years on AL

it is almost 8 years and no reocurance

I will say that my BS was awesome and even with 3 surgeries, there is only one small faded scar

Lumpectomy and rads. Happy about the lumpectomy, and based the rads decision on the good info available at the time. Concerned about possible long-term effects of rads, but would have been more unhappy if I had not had them, and had a recurrence. As I have said in other recent Posts, I am just bummed that we don't know more, these days, about which small cancers will progress, and which will not. But we don't. So. All in all, not unhappy with my decisions, with what I had to go by.

I also had invasive. I had a 2.8 cm tumor removed with a lumpectomy. Not disfigured at all - just the incision scar.

Nancy

Lord Yes.

I had 8mm of low grade DCIS in 2007 and I did what the prevailing wisdom said do at the time: lump., rads and tamoxifen.

And it still came back. As a grade III invasive no less. Had I gotten a mastectomy I truly believe it would not have happened. Can't go back in time though *sigh*.

Anyway, you talk about being "disfigured"; you really have no idea on how bad it can get. Anyone talking about "watching" DCIS is crazy I don't care what the research says. Your breast is telling you it's capable of producing cancer cells and that it has already made some. So why play chicken with your life? I can see having concerns about radiation and tamoxifen but why would you want cancer cells inside of your breast? At least have them removed.

Skeptic, there is a lot of information out there on DCIS recurrence and survival rates from different studies. Typically, these rates vary by the factors such as the grade of DCIS, the size of the tumor, & the age at diagnosis. If you have a small amount of low-grade DCIS and are older, it might be reasonable to watch and wait. If you are younger with a large area of high-grade DCIS, then you may be more likely than not to have invasive cancer later. The recent article talking about Dr. Esserman did not go into all of the factors involved into making these treatment decisions, and I fear that people that should take a more aggressive treatment approach will not after reading the article. (And I hate when they include words like "disfiguring", which to me indicates a real bias against surgical treatment by the author and plays into women's body issues - does anyone worry about having disfiguring heart surgery?). I had two unsuccessful lumpectomies and then a mastectomy - no regrets here. I took time to look at the available data, and it gave me peace of mind about my treatment. I look forward to the day when the data provide better information, but until then, the idea of overtreatment beats undertreatment for me.

I had two masses, both larger than 1 cm, one mass benign (mostly ALH and ADH), one known to be IDC. I had two lumpectomies on my less-than-C-cup breast. If I'd had only the benign mass, I would have had surgery, as you never know what is lurking. Pathology showed the benign mass to be benign, the invasive tumor to have DCIS "present." My only regret is that the tumor was not found and excised before it became invasive.

And no, even with two surgeries on my smallish-breast, I am not disfigured; my breast looks just like before. I was actually surprised at the excellent cosmetic result. Your surgeon will, of course, let you know what to expect as far as aesthetics go, but do be aware that even if you are unhappy with the way your breast looks, your insurance will pay for a plastic surgeon to revise your result.

MSK is not some nutcase improperly using drugs with improper management in someone's bedroom for money. I believe propofpl is widely used and generally safe iwhen used in proper circumstances by a responsible anesthesiologist

I read that Joan Rivers was not being monitored while the doctors were taking selfies with her. My interpretation is that no matter what anesthetic used, she was at risk with such non professional behavior.
I am 65 years old. I have had propofol for 14 surgeries and procedures since 1998. I don't do well with tranquilizers and anti anxiety drugs (they make me wild), so it was nice to have a medication that allows me to softly fall asleep and calmly wake up.

But remember, as others have said, medications affect people differently. I am rooting for propofol to be as gentle with you as it has been with me. I'm sure the OR and recovery room staff is happy that they don't have to restrain a wild woman like happened after my shoulder surgery (it took 3 of them 😵)

Skeptic, I had lumpectomies for DCIS in 2 quadrants of the breast, followed by rads and hormonal therapy. I struggled with my treatment decisions. It helped when I realized that based on current medical knowledge, there's no "good" way to treat DCIS. For most of us, there is no easy, obvious answer. Instead, we have various options, and we have to muddle our way through evaluating their risks and benefits.

I took it one step at a time and did what I could along the way to reduce risk. I decided to have surgery when I realized that without it, I couldn't know for sure whether it really DCIS or something invasive. I tried to reduce the risk during surgery by opting for conscious sedation instead of general anesthesia.

I decided not to decide about radiation until after surgery. I made the rads decision based on the final post-surgical pathology findings and my RO's best estimates of my recurrence risk. Although I had been leaning against rads before surgery, once all the info was in, the recurrence risk was too high for me to feel comfortable skipping it.

I asked my RO about ways to minimize the risk of heart damage from rads, and I expressed interest in the shorter course of treatment (aka Canadian protocol). My RO spent a lot of time explaining my options and then recommended 16 whole breast treatments followed by 4 boosts, all using deep breath inspiration to protect my heart.

I don't regret my decisions. I still have some swelling from radiation, peeling skin on my nipple, and a seroma in one area, but they tell me that can take months to be absorbed by the body. The incision scars are fading. Overall, I consider these things to be relatively minor.

Good luck to you, whatever you chose.

I don't regret my lumpectomy at all. It was totally easy and recovery was a breeze. Radiation sucked big time. I burned horribly but now that it's behind me I don't regret it. I haven't started tamoxifen yet, so no opinion on that. But the lumpectomy was the easiest part of this. M

I was diagnosed in 9/18/15 I'm scheduled for a DMX on 10/15/15. High grade negative for ER/PR. I know I will not sleep at night worrying if it might come back or if it came back as Triple Negative IDC. I studied all I could about lumpectomies but even Dr. Esserman said in an interview on a public broadcast station I listed to the recast that high grade and negative ER/PR called for treatment.

I'm terrified but I'm at peace with my decision.

Do you know how big it is, yet? I was told I had moderate to high DCIS, turns out it's invasive, in my lymph

I totally regret having been fucked around with lumpectomy .

Okay. I had a lumpectomy after a suspicious mammogram in 2008, pathology showed papillomatosis and atypical hyperplasia. Breast surgeon recommended to do nothing. I had mammograms every six months , since the age of 40, due to family history my mom had DCIS at age 50..she's 78 and in very good health). All was good until I felt a lump in February 2014. Went for a mammogram. Then biopsy, followed by partial mastectomy (aka lumpectomy). Pathology found DCIS, LCIS, andInvasive Ductal Carcinoma, Oh yay! No clean margins! Let's wait a week and do a mastectomy! And there's one positive lymph node! Score one more for cancer!

After all that, my poor left breast was ignored, since my cancer was found before my annual mammogram. I had to get an MRI, and guess what! There was a suspicious mass found! The surgeon called to share the results and said "we recommend a biopsy, and a lumpectomy..." (he's all into "breast conservation") and at that point I said "Stop. Just take it off. I do not want to mess around with all that." He thankfully agreed. My left breast had LCIS. The surgeon said he was surprised. I underwent a second mastectomy, three weeks after the first.

My point is, who cares if you are disfigured. You have breast cancer. Lop them off and move on.

Welcome MKTCA. Sorry you're here, but glad that you found BCO and this supportive thread. Hope you find here the answers you're looking for.

Let us know if we can help with anything, we're here for you!

Best,

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