Quick question

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1

Hi,

I just have a quick question re. lumpectomy. I was diagnosed Dec '07, grade 3 triple negative, tumour sized 3.5cm. At the time I was offered a neo-adjuvant treatment plan, chemo first, then surgery followed by rads. After 4x AC my lump shrunk from 3.5cm to 2 cm, but there has been no further shrinkage from having 3x Taxotere. At the time of diagnosi, my surgeon said that if the lump shrunk sufficiently then I should be able to have a lumpectomy, after my meeting with him 2 weeks ago, he talked about a mastectomy and that one of the reasons was that as my breasts are small (34B) just having a lumpectomy would leave me with a poor cosmetic result. My question is why can’t a reconstruction be done after having a lumpectomy on smaller breasts. If the only reason for having a mastectomy is because someone’s boods are too small, then why can’t a reconstruction be offered ie implant instead of having to go through the trauma of having a full mastectomy. Jacqui xx

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Maybe it’s because people who have a lumpectomy usually have rads, and this might damage the implant.

Don’t know for sure as I had mast/TRAM recon. Just an idea though

Take care
Marilyn x

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Hi Jacqui

I am a triple negative 2.5cm grade 3 but had lump out then mastectomy. I am half way through chemo then rads but was not offered recon till next year. I do think its like Marilyn said the rads would damage the recon.

Good luck

xxxx

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Hi,

I had a lumpectomy, but I was in hospital with a lady who had a mastectomy, node clearance and reconstruction at the same time. The surgeon we are both under only does reconstruction at the same time if the patient is not having rads. I’ve heard that rads can damage or harden the implant.

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Hi Jacqui,

I’m in a very similar situation to you; triple neg, neo-adjuvent, 32 A/B cup, chemo finished last week and I’m waiting to see whether I can have a lumpectomy or whether I have to have a mx. My breast care nurse has told me that if you need radiotherapy then you can’t have a recon with an implant but, so long as there are no medical contra-indications, an immediate recon using your own tissue (eg LD flap or DIEP should be posssible). I have been reading Cancerbackup’s booklet “Understanding Breast Reconstruction” and page 30 covers “lumpectomy and immediate breast reconstruction”, so clearly this is an option for some women.

I’m finding the wait to see my surgeon very stressful and I expect it’s the same for you.

Best wishes, Liza x