pectoral muscle recurrence- breast to muscle tissue

You can do this! Try to get referral to breast oncolological surgeon. I had neoadjuvant chemo (before surgery) to shrink the lump first. Then surgery and then rads. It is considered local/regional recurrence. In my case they just cut part of pec muscle and did not remove the whole muscle. Removed 8 more lymph nodes and hollowed out armpit and scraped down to ribs on side. Get some PT after surgery to try to keep range of motion. Get LE consultation for measurements and prevention.

I hope it turns out to be something else... when I felt mine, I pretty much knew.

Hi all, I am following this thread because I recently found a marble sized lump above my implant to the right nearly under my arm pit. Had an ultrasound today and it doesn't look favorable, I am scheduled for a bx in a week. The solid lump looks to be in the pec. I am only a little over a month from my five year anniversary. Ugh.

I was/am in the same boat...I had a pea sized nodule on my mx side very close to where my primary tumor. I actually had three other small tumors in a different quadrant. Initially all my docs thought it was a sebaceous cyst and I put off having it removed for almost 2 years. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it was cancer. I almost fell over when I got the news and then everything I read says how rare it is. I had a CT scan and MRI and everything else was clear. I was denied a PET by insurance since nodes and organs clear but I am getting a bone scan soon I hope.

I had the nodule removed and some skin..approx 7.5mm to get clear margins I had 5.5mm skin invasion and 2mm pectoral muscle. My BS presented my case to the tumor board and like many got a mixed decision regarding what treatment plan and staging. My BS called it a Metachronous Carcinoma and said it was stage I. But everything I read is stage IV but includes positive nodes which is not my case.

I still have another week to wait to talk to my Onc to see what he is thinking. He is at a different hospital than my BS so I think he is presenting to tumor board too. I am praying chemo in not in his regimen. I have literally been stressing for two weeks over what my treatment plan will be I do rad onc consult in 2 weeks.

I ended tamoxifen after 3 years because I was having terrible migraines and none of the usual side effects to indicate Tamoxifen ever worked for me. My BS said he thought the Tamoxifen failed me so now that I am 49 and still premenopausal he wants to shut down my ovaries and put me on AI's which I have been having on and off meltdowns over. I am very afraid of what the ovary shutdown will be like and I cannot believe I am on this ride again. I am glad I found this page to see I am not completely alone.

I am confused about what they radiate if the muscle and tissue is removed. Do they do whole breast radiation? I worried about how it will affect my recon.

I say if you have something suspicious have it removed immediately don't wait even if its nothing get it out.

Any words of encouragement much appreciated .. I feel scared and alone in what the future holds.

Diane

I am sorry you are dealing with this. My cancer came back with a tumor on the pec muscle and another a few inches away in the soft tissue behind the pec muscle. This was 17 months after BMX. They did take out a chunk of pec muscle. I still have good strength and range of motion, but I work at it daily. I had radiation to chest wall, axillary nodes, supraclavicular nodes, and intramammary nodes. My reconstruction is ok so far, but I just finished rads a month ago, do I do worry about it. My doctors here and at Mayo all consider it s local/regional recurrence and not stage 4. Thinking of you. I know how hard this is

Didel, sorry for asking but was it fixed or were you able to move it or grab it? Looks it was under skin very superficisl so rads may very well not affect recon.Do you have saline implants?Weird it did not grow because even slow growing cancer would have grown some..good luck

so after much debate with Dr's I've agreed to radiating the tumor area and that's it . Like KBeee they wanted to do extensive radiation which just seemed excessive. I told RO he would have to meet with BS and MO and go back to the drawing board. I said after 7 reconstruction surgeries I'm finally happy and feel good and for my sanity and fear of zapping lungs I would not agree to his plan. After discussing it with other Dr's they agreed but here's my dilemma slash question my RO said my ps has to give the all clear because I have abscessed stitches which are still not healed. They wanted to start rads Jan 4th but my ps said incision site wouldn't be helected until February at the earliest. My RO is gone until after Xmas and I just don't know if I will not fall outside the acceptable range of time since surgery. The skin still looks raw and I'm just finishing antibiotics

Question is am I no longer able to get rads if incision isn't healed??

Diane

This extra time gives you time for a second opinion as far as the plan and timing. That may ease you mind.

I know this a an older thread but hoping someone is out there with advice. In 2007 I had a bilateral mast with lat reconstruction for DCIS at 44 years old. Lots of reasons--age, family history, lowest chance of reoccurence, cosmetic, etc.

Fast forward to 2017. Three weeks ago found 3 1/2 cm lump in same breast. Unltrsounds, MRIs, CT scans, biospys, and second opinion at MD Anderson confirmed cancer, Can't really determine if recurrent or new cancer but nevertheless its back. E+, P+, and HER2. Fast growing and aggressive but treatable. It is in pec muscle too. Started aggressive chemo yesterday (Prejeta, Hercphin, Taxiere, and Carbo). In 6 months--drs plan to re-evaluate if tumor is shrinking for removal.

Oncologist believe we need to remove entire reconstruction and start over. Surg and Plastic surg not sure this is necessary. All agree need to wait for scans after chemo to better assess. If total reconstruction removal is done and radiation is given--only option appears to be DEIP for reconstruction which is a HUGE surgery.

Anyone had similiar experience and only had recurrenttumor and pec muscle partially removed with good outcome medically and cosmetically? Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, are welcome!

Hoping you're still around the site..your situation sounds like what I'm facing now. Did you have reconstruction and did dr remove your reconstruction during chest wall and pec muscle excision

Dear logielass,

Welcome to the community. We are sorry to hear of your daughter's recurrence and glad that you reached out to our members. This particular thread while active a few years back has not seen recent activity. You may want to start a new topic to see if you can enlist some others' experiences. You can also attempt to Private Message those who have posted here. Let us know if we can be of help. The MOds