a very very tiny calcification on my annual mammogram visit. He said it did not look like anything to worry about but he wanted to see me back in 6 months and here I am. I have Lobular/Ductal Carcinoma that is ER/PR negative. The mammogram showed 4 areas but after the MRI, I was told that there were many more areas, than the 4, that were pretty much taking up the entire right breast. They said it still showed non-invasive but with so many more areas that they really will not be positive until they do the mastectomy and can take an even closer look. They are also going to do a Sentinel Node biopsy during surgery and do a fast freeze so they can get the results while I'm still on the table. Now my question is: I have elected to have the left breast also removed because of the aggressive nature & the ER/PR negative factor but what are my chances of reoccurence somewhere else?
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Q: I am 46 yrs old and was diagnosed a month ago because of a wonderful VA doctor who 7 months ago saw
Hi - A few comments: MRI's are notorious for "false positives" - that is, they show areas that look like cancer, but aren't. So hopefully that'll be the case with you, that there actually aren't as many areas with cancer as you think.
Have they identified your cancer as invasive, or non-invasive? In other words, did they say you have IDC or ILC; or DCIS or LCIS? If your cancer is non-invasive, there's basically zero chance it's spread outside your breast; that's the definition of non-invasive, that it's remained where it started, and hasn't broken through the duct or lobule walls.
If the sentinel node biopsy is clear, then you can be fairly sure it hasn't spread. I believe the 5-year survival rate for breast cancer that hasn't left the breast is around 95%. If it's spread outside your breast, then having the other breast removed doesn't increase your survival statistics; though it does eliminate your chance of having a new cancer in the other breast, for all practical purposes.
Your doctor will explain all of this in much greater detail, once you have your complete pathology report. Best of luck - and stay in touch here, OK? We can help. PJH
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not what i asked