Patholocigal complete response after chemo

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BTeich
BTeich Member Posts: 6
edited December 2021 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

Has anyone who had chemo before surgery had a pathological complete response where they have found no evidence of cancer when they did the surgery?

My tumor shrunk significantly after the first chemo cycle but has stayed about the same size since then. I am 4 cycles into chemo and have 2 more to go. I was really hoping for a pathological complete response (aren't we all!) and am a little disheartened that I can still feel the lump and it hasn't gotten any smaller in the past few months. Is it possible to still feel the lump but for the cancer to be gone and it is just dead cells left over?


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  • worriedhusband9
    worriedhusband9 Member Posts: 3
    edited December 2021

    I wanted to follow up on this thread as my wife is in the same situation.

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  • sillyoldrabbit
    sillyoldrabbit Member Posts: 124
    edited December 2021

    Worriedhusband9: I'm not sure my situation is comparable, but I had a PCR after surgery (which followed chemo). Remaining palpable lump turned out to just be scar tissue. And then the surgery itself created even more internal scar tissue. Hoping for good results for your wife.

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited December 2021

    I did not have pCR from TCHP. So after surgery (with clear margins) I had AC chemo before rads & Herceptin for the rest of the year. Made it through OK and it's 7 years down the road.

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  • worriedhusband9
    worriedhusband9 Member Posts: 3
    edited December 2021

    @sillyoldrabbit -- that's exactly relevant to us! so good to hear. She has TNBC, we are 3 taxol rounds from finishing AC-T. There is still a palpable lump that after scanning was bigger than we expected, which has just increased nerves even more (maybe the scan itself is not so helpful, especially for mental sanity!). Her doctors are non committal about what it could be, and based on their reactions, it seems like 50/50 whether it's still the tumor or some benign scar tissue or something. We are anxiously waiting for surgery in January....

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  • mle42
    mle42 Member Posts: 151
    edited December 2021

    BTeich and Worriedhusband, my tumor shrunk a lot with neoadjuvent chemo but didn't completely disappear. However - what the surgeon told me before my surgery is that sometimes tumors shrink from the outside in, and sometimes the tumor cells are killed in more of a "swiss cheese" fashion. If it's the latter, the mass will not always look or feel like it is getting smaller even if the chemo is in fact working. So that's another possibility, if it isn't just scar tissue.

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  • BTeich
    BTeich Member Posts: 6
    edited December 2021

    I started this thread a few months ago and have since had surgery and I had a PCR!! My tumor started out at 4 cm and was 2 midway through chemo. It didn't shrink any more from that point and I still had a 2cm palpable lump prior to surgery. I had given up hoping for a PCR so was totally surprised when my surgeon told me the news after my biopsy came in. The lump was scar tissue with no remaining cancer cells so there is hope even if you have a palpable lump remaining.

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited December 2021

    BTeich - that's a really good thing to know. Wonderful news for you & thank for sharing.

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  • worriedhusband9
    worriedhusband9 Member Posts: 3
    edited December 2021

    So glad to hear BTeich -- congratulations and thank you for sharing! These responses have really given me some peace of mind. Although our doctors are non committal and won't even seem optimistic about it being potentially benign tissue, it seems that it is fairly common that it is benign

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