Hi
Does anyone have a similar diagnosis? TN, 2.4cm DCIS with 15mm grade 2 cells, SNB clear and no vascular invasion. I don’t fit into any of the categories for TN - too old 58, no family history and grade 2 cells. I am going to onc on Tues and am not sure what to expect…possibly chemo first…
Thanks
Fin
Hi Fin,
My results were quite similar.
13mms Grade 3 surrounded by DCIS to 21mms, two areas of vascular invasion, mastectomy and axillary clearance levels 1 and 2,nodes all clear. I could not have radiotherapy as have lung problems.
Triple Negative, but not young, 65 at diagnosis, no family history, well post menopausal.
My surgeon was so pleased for me that the nodes were unaffected, he thought chemo might not be necessary. Because I was TN and Grade 3, I wanted chemo to throw everything at it. The oncologist checked things out with the chest physician, then was happy to proceed with chemo as FEC6 as the numbers showed a small but reasonable benefit.
It depends on what the figures come out on the programme (usually a thing called Adjuvant Online)when they put in all the info and see what percentage improvement in survival and prevention of recurrence can be achieved by chemo.
It is hard to second guess the calculations of the programme, being Grade 2, clear nodes and no vascular invasion may put you in the no chemo camp, being younger and being Triple Negative may push you back in that direction. I was offered Oncotype DX testing (not an NHS thing sample sent off to US 4000 but quite often offered in UK) if I had difficulty in making up my mind for chemo, but didn’t take that up.
If you have time on Monday, you could perhaps phone the helpline to discuss things with someone a bit more informed and up to date?
Will look out to see how you get on, I hope you have professionals as nice as I had, prepared to discuss and prepared to make clear recommendations.
Lavender
Although the highest percentage of TNBC is in younger women it probably actually occurs more often in women over 50 purely because more women over 50 get cancer than women under 50.
As LL says they often pop your details into adjuvant online to see if having Chemo would be beneficial. If the invasive part of the tumour is under 2cm you may not need Chemo as the DCIS cannot spread it’s the invasive bit that does and Chemo is really given to help prevent that. There is a growing school of thought that even node neg TNBC patients should have Chemo as they still have a slightly higher risk of progression that hormone positive node neg patients so it may depend on what research your team has read recently.
Mine was grade3 tumour was 1.9cm extended to 2.8cm with DCIS. But was 40 at diagnosis and had neg nodes but had lymphatic invasion (not considered a risk factor at my hosp). However based on my age and tumour grade Chemo was considered best option for me. I had Epi-CMF and foundit fiery easy going compared to lots of my freinds on other regimens.
I had surgery first (wle and snb). we only get Chemo first usually if under 50 and invasive part of tumour is in excess of 2cm.
Hope you get answers soon
Lxx
I had TNBC Grde 3 invasive 13mm and DCIS extended for aditional 27mm, node neg.
I was 48 at diagnosis. I had Mx followed by chemo (6X FEC).
All scans and blood tests have been clear since, and I had reconstructive surgery (TRAM flap) 9 weeks ago.
Follow their advise Fin they know what they are doing. It seems like a lot of us have different treatment but that just shows that we are all individuals and that they tailor the treatment to suit each person.
Et