More questions – Pathology Report

Question:

The  leap from well to moderately differentiately is slightly worse and doesn’t effect your staging. Tumor size does effect staging and until you get clean margains you really can’t do a final stage.       Staging Breast Cancer       Stage Tumor Size Lymph Node Involvement Metastasis (Spread)       I       II       III       IV      Less than 2 cm       Between 2-5 cm       More than 5 cm       Not applicable      No       No or in same side of breast       Yes, on same side of breast       Not applicable      No       No       No       Yes From the information you posted I would say Stage II. Ki-67 is a proliferation markers. However, most authorities believe that only Her-2/neu, estrogen receptors, and progesterone receptors are beneficial. The other tests do not have therapeutic implications and, when compared with grade and stage of the disease, are not independently significant with respect to prognosis. Some medical centers use these tests for additional information in evaluating patients; however, most studies have shown that their evaluation offers little to prognosis.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I keep meaning to ask my doctors, just seems I always forget, might be my subconscious not wanting to know. My original biopsy showed two tumors (Infiltrating lobular carcinoma with focal closely associated infiltrating ductal carcinoma), with a total size of 1.5×1.5×0.8 cm, The entire amount they took out was 2.9×2.5×1.4 cm, if I’m reading this right.  The margins were not clear and was followed up with a lumpectomy removed 3.6×2.5×1.7 cm, again the margins were not clear. Final Diagnosis stated: 1. Residual infiltrating ductal carcinoma (0.6 CM), moderately differentiated (tubles = 3 + nuclei = 2 + mitosis = 1 = 6), present at surgical margin of resection 2.  Residual ductal carcinoma in-situ, solid type, nuclear grade II of III, present within less than 0.5 MM of surgical margin Nodes were negative (good, good, good) Biopsy stated well differentiated, this one states moderately differentiated. DNA Panel ER = 93% (good, good, good) HER-s/neu = Normal limit (good, good, good) Ki-67 = 5% Questions: 1.  What is the significance of well differentiated vs moderately differentiated, does this imply that from the first surgery to the second things took a turn for the worse? 2.  Does the fact that the margins have not been clear alter the stage? 3.  What stage would this be considered? 4.  What does the Ki-67 represent Thanks again for all your information Ruth

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I keep meaning to ask my doctors, just seems I always forget, might be my subconscious not wanting to know. My original biopsy showed two tumors (Infiltrating lobular carcinoma with focal closely associated infiltrating ductal carcinoma), with a total size of 1.5×1.5×0.8 cm, The entire amount they took out was 2.9×2.5×1.4 cm, if I’m reading this right.  The margins were not clear and was followed up with a lumpectomy removed 3.6×2.5×1.7 cm, again the margins were not clear. Final Diagnosis stated: 1. Residual infiltrating ductal carcinoma (0.6 CM), moderately differentiated (tubles = 3 + nuclei = 2 + mitosis = 1 = 6), present at surgical margin of resection 2.  Residual ductal carcinoma in-situ, solid type, nuclear grade II of III, present within less than 0.5 MM of surgical margin Nodes were negative (good, good, good) Biopsy stated well differentiated, this one states moderately differentiated. DNA Panel ER = 93% (good, good, good) HER-s/neu = Normal limit (good, good, good) Ki-67 = 5% Questions: 1.  What is the significance of well differentiated vs moderately differentiated, does this imply that from the first surgery to the second things took a turn for the worse? 2.  Does the fact that the margins have not been clear alter the stage? 3.  What stage would this be considered? 4.  What does the Ki-67 represent Thanks again for all your information Ruth

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Question about a friend

Question:

Hello, I have a good friend who was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago with an aggresive form of breast cancer. I believe she is already in Stage 2. She’s 34 years old and from what I read that’s not the best age for this. To further complicate the matter she was pregnant and they tried to induce for the last couple of days finally having to have a C-Section last night. She had a beautiful 6 1/2 lb girl! Unfortunately that is going to put off her mastectomy for some time. Can anyone offer any advice? I feel totally helpless. Her husband is getting paranoid that the doctors are putting off telling them about the tests to see if the tumor has metastasized because it would put undo stress on her having the baby. The tests should be done by now. If it were good news wouldn’t the doctor have told them? It has me quite worried.

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 If she had the baby yesterday they may what to do more tests ( tests they couldn’t do when she was pregnant) .  Hopefully it is good news.  They can do surgery very shortly after a delivery, but it sounds like the doctors want to put together a plan. She is admitted in the OB section and the other departments are probably not involved yet. As far as advice just be a friend ( which it sounds like you are). — ALEXANDRA KOFFMAN

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, I have a good friend who was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago with an aggresive form of breast cancer. I believe she is already in Stage 2. She’s 34 years old and from what I read that’s not the best age for this. To further complicate the matter she was pregnant and they tried to induce for the last couple of days finally having to have a C-Section last night. She had a beautiful 6 1/2 lb girl! Unfortunately that is going to put off her mastectomy for some time. Can anyone offer any advice? I feel totally helpless. Her husband is getting paranoid that the doctors are putting off telling them about the tests to see if the tumor has metastasized because it would put undo stress on her having the baby. The tests should be done by now. If it were good news wouldn’t the doctor have told them? It has me quite worried.

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, I have a good friend who was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago with an aggresive form of breast cancer. I believe she is already in Stage 2. She’s 34 years old and from what I read that’s not the best age for this. To further complicate the matter she was pregnant and they tried to induce for the last couple of days finally having to have a C-Section last night. She had a beautiful 6 1/2 lb girl! Unfortunately that is going to put off her mastectomy for some time. Can anyone offer any advice? I feel totally helpless. Her husband is getting paranoid that the doctors are putting off telling them about the tests to see if the tumor has metastasized because it would put undo stress on her having the baby. The tests should be done by now. If it were good news wouldn’t the doctor have told them? It has me quite worried.

Hi, Dwayne – Cancer is rarely a medical emergency.  What’s more likely is that the doctors don’t know whether the disease has metastasized – and standard practice is to not look for metastasis unless you have a reason to do so.  When your friend has her mastectomy they’ll check underarm lymph nodes for the presence of cancer cells. Relax.  It’s true that breast cancer in younger women is a bit more aggressive, but cancer isn’t a death sentence.  Sounds to me like your friend is getting proper care.  They won’t know any more until after the path results come back on the mastectomy samples. Hang in there – and remember to breathe  

Response:

CA 15-3

Question:

My mother had a breast cancer and part of a breast removed last year. Now on the regular check they found that Antigen CA 15-3 markers (or whatever this is)  is 442. Her doctor said that this is to big and it can be a mistake and repeated the test with  new result even bigger- 503. Now she  is waiting to go to a specialist for complet check. In a men time she is nervous of course while she’s waiting. Can anyone tell  me  what this mean, are this numbers possible?

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My mother had a breast cancer and part of a breast removed last year. Now on the regular check they found that Antigen CA 15-3 markers (or whatever this is)  is 442. Her doctor said that this is to big and it can be a mistake and repeated the test with  new result even bigger- 503. Now she  is waiting to go to a specialist for complet check. In a men time she is nervous of course while she’s waiting. Can anyone tell  me  what this mean, are this numbers possible?

Hi, Miki – I think your mother needs to see an oncologist. The numbers are indeed possible – but by itself it doesn’t mean much. CA 15-3 is not a reliable indicator of tumor activity in everyone – and everyone’s cancer is different.  I’ve seen people reasonably healthy with a CA 15-3 of over 2000 and I’ve known women who have died with this marker at less than 100. That said, if your mother is one of those people where they can use CA 15-3 to track disease progression, it’s not the number that counts – it’s the trend.  If the numbers continue to rise it’s time to look for distant metastasis – a chest x-ray, abdominal CT scan and a bone scan might be in order. My wife Deborah’s highest reading has been 59 – that’s when we got dropped from a clinical trial for disease progression.  Her markers are now down around 23 (0-39 is normal for a person who has never had breast cancer) and life is good.  Her tumors aren’t all gone but have been stable for quite some time. — allan grossman http://www.cancersupporters.com take this, spambots! humans can reach me at wizard at cancersupporters dot com

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<< been 59 – that’s when we got dropped from a clinical trial for disease progression.  Her markers are now down around 23 (0-39 is normal for a person who has never had breast cancer) and life is good. Hi Allen, glad to hear that all is stable and good with Deborah.  I am not sure I head heard of the CA 15-3 test.  I had the CA 27.29, I think?  Are they the same test?  My markers had been in the 40’s, I think (chemo brain ) prior to surgery but are now in the 20’s.  One oncologist we saw said that there were many false negatives, and he thought that results should be marked either "normal" or "abnormal."   I had been concerned a little because mine had shown a 2 or 3 point increase, although it was still within normal limits.

Response:

Question about where BC will spread

Question:

A friend of mine’s mother was recently diagnosed with lung cancer– based on preliminary tests.  Now, it appears it may be breast cancer which has already spread to lungs and rib cage and pancreas.  She had a question for me which I could not answer.  How likely is it that BC will spread right away to lungs and, in particular, the pancreas.  I know all of this will sort out when all of the tests are done, but she is trying to gather information quickly and I don’t really remember seeing this anywhere in all of my internet travels re BC.   My friend is more hopeful that it is BC as lung cancer is quite difficult to treat/slow down.  The mother in question has been diagnosed as stage 3/4 so things could be better … but if anybody had any insights, I’d appreciate it so I can pass that along to my friend. Thanks.

Response:

If BC has to metastasise, then it is common for it to go to the bones and lungs.  ’Right away’ is a relative term, there is really no immediacy in cancer.  The typical breast cancer may be ten years old when it is first detected.  All we see is the end game.  If it is deep or diffuse then it may never be detected, a significant proportion of cancers are asymptomatic, not detectable by physical examination or by mammogram.  In this case the first symptom to occur is due to metastasis.  It is not that the cancer metastasises early, but that it is detected late. I don’t know what range of cancer ages actually happen, but I did try to backtrack my wife’s cancer, partly for legal purposes.  From my observations of the growth of visible swelling over the months, and from the final size of the removed tumour (7cm), my best guess was that it was about three years old at first symptom (sore breast) and six at death, which interestingly coincided with the birth of our daughter.  Most medics involved thought this was improbably fast, but then a short growth time would have helped my legal case against a medic, so we were probably both biased.  In fact I did not have this in mind when I did the calculation, and at the time I had no idea of what was ‘normal’ and was surprised that it was so long.  This cancer was diffuse, aggressive and rapid growing, Taxol did not visibly slow it . Tim Jackson

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – A friend of mine’s mother was recently diagnosed with lung cancer– based on preliminary tests.  Now, it appears it may be breast cancer which has already spread to lungs and rib cage and pancreas.  She had a question for me which I could not answer.  How likely is it that BC will spread right away to lungs and, in particular, the pancreas.  I know all of this will sort out when all of the tests are done, but she is trying to gather information quickly and I don’t really remember seeing this anywhere in all of my internet travels re BC. My friend is more hopeful that it is BC as lung cancer is quite difficult to treat/slow down.  The mother in question has been diagnosed as stage 3/4 so things could be better … but if anybody had any insights, I’d appreciate it so I can pass that along to my friend. Thanks.

Response:

Cancer

Question:

I am interested in joining your newsgroup.  My mail address is sandf.ix.netcom.com.

Response:

I am interested in joining your newsgroup.  My mail address is sandf.ix.netcom.com.

You don’t have to do anything special to join this newsgroup.  The fact that you’re reading the posts means that you’re already a part of this newsgroup. Feel free to post.  I’m a new member myself. AJK

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Hang out, make your self at home – if you want an invitation. Lots of straight up wisdom here to my reckoning. SumBuddie – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am interested in joining your newsgroup.  My mail address is sandf.ix.netcom.com.

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Hopefully we can get his account terminated. …lisa

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You are obviously suffering from a disease much worse than mine.  My prayers will be with you.

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eat shit and die asshole go bother someone who deserves you…..i guess they must have got sick of you also, otherwise you wouldn’t be here……have a nice life, shit for brains……

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KISS MY CANCER ASS http://community.webtv.net/junejohn/TOMMYHAMMANS

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Please some spammer, pick up this address…. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –

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I have now seen this sicko on such newsgroups as breastfeeding and childcare. He/she is obviously in need of psychological assistance. I could "accept" his existence on these other newsgroups, but when he comes here and attacks people who have cancer, I know he is in dire need of help. What a sick, perverted individual. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –

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HaHa

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That’s not TB. Then again that’s his style. That you baldy? If it is give over eh

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – HaHa

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Hello, My name is Roger. I would like to get some infromation.  My mother is 65 years old.  She broke her hip last week. When the doctor opened her leg he found the break happened on a tumor.  He sent the bone off for tests.  They did a bone scan on mother and found other tumors on a rib, shoulder and small ones on her spine.  They did a CAT scan and found a small tumor on her breast.  It was removed and sent off yesterday.  She has been in the hospital 8 days.  The doctors have not told her or us anything.  I am worried.  Can someone tell me something bad or good, I just need to know. Thanks, Roger

Response:

Hi Roger, Sorry to hear about your mom.  It would be really difficult to tell what is going on until the pathology from the breast tumor comes back, but from a layperson’s perspective who has breast cancer, it sounds to me like perhaps she has a primary breast cancer and has had some metastasis to the bone.  But it is entirely possible that she could have a primary bone cancer and a primary breast cancer.  The best scenario would be that all her tumors could possible be benign.  Did the doctor tell the family if he felt the tumors were malignant? Sure hope you get some news soon.  Will be hoping for the best. J

Response:

Greetings/Information on Thyroid Cancer

Question:

Hello, I’m a student of high school biology and I’m currently researching thyroid cancer.  Are there any biomedical researchers or medical professionals in this newsgroup that are willing to answer questions from an inquisitive but rather ignorant student?  Many of my questions will be focused on genetics in particular. Please either post a reply to the group or email me if you are willing answer my inquiries, thank you. — John Chang Veritas Vos Liberabit – "The truth shall make you free." -John 8:32

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Hello, I’m a student of high school biology and I’m currently researching thyroid cancer.  Are there any biomedical researchers or medical professionals in this newsgroup that are willing to answer questions from an inquisitive but rather ignorant student?  Many of my questions will be focused on genetics in particular. John Chang

<<<<<<<<<<<<<< says, I’m not a medical professional but I AM a victim of thyroid cancer. If there’s any genetic link, I don’t know what it would be  - – but it IS possible. Both of my parents and my paternal grandfather died of cancer but none of them had thyroid cancer. My mother’s cancer started out as breast cancer. My father’s cancer and his father’s cancer started out as melanomas and eventually became lung cancer. My own history started out as malignant melanomas in 1990. A basal cell carcinoma led to amputation of one of my fingers in 1995. Thryroid cancer struck in 1996. Since then, I’ve battled bone cancer in the form of a tumor on my spine. I had more surgery last week due to a cancer on the right side of my neck where the original thyroid cancer was first detected. I’ve had two doses of radioactive iodine and the thyroid cance apparently survived both doses. at Lake Bastrop, Texas <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Quote: ‘I want the 21st century to be prosperous. And I don’t want anybody being left behind’ – - – - – - Texas Governor George W. Bush, March 2, 1999 <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Visit Terry’s `Another True Story’ web page at: http://www.io.com/~jvaughn/tmoore1.htm Copyright (c) 1998 by Terry Moore

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Was the multiple cancer sites due to metastasis?

<<<<<<<<<<<<<< says, I’m not sure and I don’t think the doctors are either. at Lake Bastrop, Texas <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Quote: ‘I want the 21st century to be prosperous. And I don’t want anybody being left behind’ – - – - – - Texas Governor George W. Bush, March 2, 1999 <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Visit Terry’s `Another True Story’ web page at: http://www.io.com/~jvaughn/tmoore1.htm Copyright (c) 1998 by Terry Moore

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says… <removed original text <<<<<<<<<<<<<< says, I’m not a medical professional but I AM a victim of thyroid cancer. If there’s any genetic link, I don’t know what it would be  - – but it IS possible.

Well, my questions were actually related to the proto-oncogenes/oncogenes that are associated with the cancer, but I’ve also heard that there is an abnormal gene that aids in causing medullary thyroid cancer. Both of my parents and my paternal grandfather died of cancer but none of them had thyroid cancer. My mother’s cancer started out as breast cancer. My father’s cancer and his father’s cancer started out as melanomas and eventually became lung cancer. My own history started out as malignant melanomas in 1990. A basal cell carcinoma led to amputation of one of my fingers in 1995. Thryroid cancer struck in 1996. Since then, I’ve battled bone cancer in the form of a tumor on my spine. I had more surgery last week due to a cancer on the right side of my neck where the original thyroid cancer was first detected. I’ve had two doses of radioactive iodine and the thyroid cance apparently survived both doses.

Was the multiple cancer sites due to metastasis? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – at Lake Bastrop, Texas <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Quote: ‘I want the 21st century to be prosperous. And I don’t want anybody being left behind’ – - – - – - Texas Governor George W. Bush, March 2, 1999 <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Visit Terry’s `Another True Story’ web page at: http://www.io.com/~jvaughn/tmoore1.htm Copyright (c) 1998 by Terry Moore

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