Does pathology lab release partial results?

sos1125
sos1125 Member Posts: 64
edited December 2015 in Diagnosed and Waiting for Test Results

Hello, I had a lumpectomy and right sentinel node biopsy on Dec. 7. I have follow-up appointments with surgeon, medical oncologist (am on the fence about the recommended hormone therapy drugs, but will consider those), and radiation oncologist this Friday, Dec. 18. Just asked the surgeon's assistant whether my final pathology report will be available by Friday and was told the lab shows pathology testing is "in process" but there will likely be some results. Called the pathology lab and was told results likely would be ready, however, if "stains" are needed, that could hold up the report. Belatedly occurred to me to ask about the stains as I'm pretty sure they would be required to retest estrogen- and progesterone-receptor status and her2/neu, and also forgot to ask whether lab would release a partial report to provide whatever information is available by 12/18. I'm going through all this because I travel to a different state for care and really want appointments to be productive. My surgical incisions appear to be healing fine, so I think a couple days of delay on surgical follow-up would be okay in the interests of proceeding with needed pathology information in hand.

So my question is: can anybody tell me whether the typical lumpectomy pathology report does include "stains" and whether a pathology lab will release a partial report ahead of the "final" report if the stained tissue takes forever to process?

Thanks for any info. you can pass along, I really don't want to travel for hours only to find can't do much because information is unavailable.

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited December 2015

    Stains are routine and one of the methods that can be used to determine hormonal receptor/Her2 status.  Pathology is often released in stages - not all labs do all of the necessary types of testing and some tests take longer than others to do.  You will often see a path report, followed by an addendum which contains the rest of the info.  If you are wanting all of the info delivered at the same time you might inquire with your surgeon's office whether you can schedule your post-op when they have a complete report as long as you are not having any post-surgical issues.  On the other hand, this appt. is to check your surgical site and I am not sure what would change at the appt. if all of the pathology report is complete.  You will most likely be sent for an MO consult and that is where that info would be discussed as next steps in treatment are determined.

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  • Jclc83
    Jclc83 Member Posts: 246
    edited December 2015

    Certain stains are routine while others are not. The tissue might be submitted for a "frozen section" first. Then it will be grossed and dissected and processed for permanent. Then the tissue is usually processed overnight and then embedded, cut and stained. Routines stains are done and after reading those slides the pathologist will order ER,PR and HER 2 neu and examine the nodes. Also Ki67 and other immunostains will be done. This could take days, weekends don't count. Sentinel nodes require multiple sections. The slides may be compared to previous biopsies and/or reports. Another pathologist may be asked to consult. Your doctor could always call pathology and get a preliminary report or talk to the pathologist. Depending on the lab should take 3-7 days for final report.

    I'm not good at waiting either.

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  • sos1125
    sos1125 Member Posts: 64
    edited December 2015

    Thanks, Jclc83 and SpecialK. My issue is I'm not really having incision problems and don't want to fly from Michigan to Boston just for an incision check (I figure I could go to my PCP just to ensure nothing looks infected if a check is truly needed). The surgeon's office has set up appointments with not only surgeon but medical oncologist and radiation oncologist. I can't figure why the heck I am seeing them if the pathology report isn't ready yet. I figure the radiation oncologist wouldn't necessarily care about the hormone receptor status information, but would need the rest of the report to actually plan anything. I just don't want to make a very expensive and time-consuming trip to get very little new information.

    Thanks again for the input. I have a call in to the lab to see whether they will at least release a partial report by Friday. I would really rather reschedule while I still may be able to salvage part of the cost of plane tickets. So frustrating. Wish I had asked about the report stuff in advance, I just assumed the surgeon's office knew what they were doing.

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  • windingshores
    windingshores Member Posts: 704
    edited December 2015

    I don't see how you can make any treatment plans without the full lab results.

    Do you have an online portal where you can check results? I checked my own tests online. Mine came in with some tests missing (HER2 as I remember) and then the HER2 came in as an addendum. Are you having an Oncotype test done? That will be important in determining treatment as well. That takes about two weeks.

    I never even saw my surgeon after either of my mastectomies. I just went to a nurse to have drains taken out, that's it.

    Maybe you could cancel the surgeon visit and reschedule the medical oncologist and radiation oncologist. Unless they will do things by phone after meeting you in person, which is a possibility. They may need to see you in an appointment to start your case but perhaps then they will be able to do things from a distance.

    Why are you on the fence about hormonals? Just curious.

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