My mom was recently diagnosed and I need guidance.

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Sylvie06
Sylvie06 Member Posts: 2
edited June 2014 in Caring for Someone with Breast cancer
My mom was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ. She is 65 yrs. old and is diabetic and has high blood pressure as well. Her surgeon gave her two options, a lumpectomy w/radiation or a mastectomy. Her family doctor suggests that she get both breasts removed. I am trying to help her figure out what her best option would be considering her age and health condition.

Her pathology report from the biopsy is as follows:

Size of invasive component: 1.3 cm
Histologic Type: Invasive ductal carcinoma. Ductal carcinoma in situ, low grade, cribiform to solid type without necrosis.
Hitologic Grade: Grade 1/3 (tubule formation 1/3, nuclear grade 2/3, mitotic count 1/3).
Patholig Staing Primary Tumor: Tumor more than 1.0 but not more than 2.0 cm in greater dimentsion (pT1c).
Regional Lymph Nodes: Cannot be assessed
Distant Metastasis: Canot be assessed
Margins: Involved by invasive ductal carcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ.
Other Findings: Fibrocystic changes. Microcalcifications. Small fibroadenoma. Focal atypical ductal hyperplasia involving the 1.8 cm bipsy located less than 1mm from inked margin.

ERA Result: Positive, PRA result: Positive
Criteria: Negative-Virtually no nuclear staining
Positive-Any positive nuclear staining
HER2/NEU testing: is issued on a separate report (have not gotten results from this test yet)

I have been reading a ton of information these past few days, but I haven't found much information dealing with statistics on the recurrence of breast cancer if only a lumpectomy w/radiation is done as opposed to a mastectomy. I am also concerned that if my mom only gets one breast done, what are the chances of her getting breast cancer in the other. I'm so confused.

I also read that it is essential to know what the results are from the HER2/NEU testing was and that a Gene Test (BRCA) may also help before deciding what route to pursue. Does anybody have any information about this?

I welcome any suggestions, stats, or any other information that I should tell my mom that she needs to find out before making this important decision.

Thanks for your time.
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  • LuAnnH
    LuAnnH Member Posts: 8,847
    edited November 2006
    Lets see if I can tackle this one, BRCA is a gene. They look for BRCA1 or BRCA2. If you carry this gene you run a higher risk for breast cancer as do all your descendents. This test is a simple blood draw but takes 4 to 6 weeks to get the test results. From what I understand there is only one lab in the US that does this testing.

    Her2neu, this is something that is expressed in tumors. If your tumor is positve for it, that means it overexpresses this gene and they have developed some chemos that know how to battle the HER2 gene.

    ER/PR+ means that your mothers cancer is fed by estrogen. So a way of treating her cancer would be to surpress any estrogen sources to starve the cancer.

    As for lumpectomy or masectomy, that is a very personal choice. Some women don't want to lose their breast and opt for the lumpectomy. If the thought of losing a breast does not bother you then that way you are sure you removed all the cancer in the breast. A reason for doing a bilateral would be to help fight off the risk of a new cancer developing in the healthy breast. If she opts for masectomy she will need to decide on whether to reconstruct or not.

    I would speak with the doctor, find out what he tinks and recommends. Then take that information and make a decision on which surgery she would want to have.

    The doctor should be able to give your mom the stats in regards to her risk of recurrance based on each type of treatment.

    I hope this helps and doesn't confuse you further.

    LuAnn
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  • Sylvie06
    Sylvie06 Member Posts: 2
    edited November 2006

    Thanks LuAnn, I'm taking my mom to her appointment tomorrow with her oncologist. Maybe he will be able to tell me more than her surgeon has.

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  • LuAnnH
    LuAnnH Member Posts: 8,847
    edited November 2006
    Good luck with your visit, feel free to send me a private message if you have more questions or you would like to talk. I would be more than happy to send you my phone number.

    LuAnn
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