Core biopsy and surgical biopsy results...

Hi sheyma:

I am sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis at such a young age, but I am glad you found us.

Yes, a core biopsy samples only a small amount of tissue and does not provide complete information about things like actual tumor size or lymph node status, which impact treatment recommendations. So, when treatment of invasive disease (e.g., IDC) occurs after lumpectomy or mastectomy, then the surgical pathology results and lymph node biopsy results typically control treatment decisions.

It sounds like you had a core biopsy and then some sort of surgical procedure. It is not clear to me whether your surgery was a "surgical excisional biopsy" (for further evaluation purposes) or was actually a "lumpectomy" (for treatment purposes, with the intent of total removal of tumor with adequate margins). If actually a "lumpectomy" for treatment purposes, did you also have a sentinel node biopsy?

With breast conserving surgery ("lumpectomy") for invasive ductal carcinoma ("IDC"), a course of radiation is quite likely to be recommended, regardless of lymph node status. Once the pathology is in, you can request a referral to a "radiation oncologist" to discuss which protocols may be suitable for you, what they involve, estimated risk reduction benefit, and side effect profiles.

Most of the time, in the typical case, the ER, PR, and HER2 status does not change significantly between core-needle biopsy and surgery. The actual size of the tumor based on imaging alone may be somewhat different, but also usually not by a lot. Hopefully, you will have no unexpected findings relative to the core biopsy. If you had sentinel node biopsy, I think that was the result I was most concerned about. Once your results are in, you will probably be referred to a "medical oncologist" to discuss appropriate systemic therapies, which depending on clinical and pathological findings, may include one or more of chemotherapy, HER2-targeted therapy (only if HER2-positive), and/or endocrine therapy (for hormone receptor-positive disease).

Waiting for results is very hard, and in many ways, the unknown is worse than knowing and having a treatment plan. Hoping for the best possible pathology results for you. Please keep in touch.

BarredOwl

Sheyma, I'm very sorry for what you're going through. Waiting and uncertainty is scary but I hope you'll have good pathology results and a treatment plan soon. Gecmis olsun.