Posts Tagged ‘carcinoma in situ’

LCIS on Core Biopsy

Question: Hi I Had a sterotatic biopsy that revealed On the pathology report that I picked up said A. Columnar cell lesion with focal microcalcifications B. Lobular carcinoma in situ. I am so confused My doctor said I have DCIS but its lobular. Treatment plan is  lumpectomy and lymph node aspiration and then 5 years of [...]

Focal ADH on Core Biopsy

Question: Hello, I just received the results of my core biopsy, I would like you opinion on it. Proliferated fibrocystic changes comprised of ductal epithelial hyerlasia with focal atypia, duct single minute microcalcification seen in benign fibrotic tissue. Patient needs surgery consult for breast biopsy. At this point, what do you think my risk is for cancer? I [...]

Atypical Ductal Hyperplasia and Core Biopsy

Question: After several years of mammograms showing mild calcifications, this year I was informed that the radiologist saw some mild changes in the calcifications. I did another mammogram, followed by a core biopsy. The initial report came back benign, but the final came back as atypical ductal hyperplasia. I am now scheduled [...]

Margins on Lumpectomy

Question: Four weeks ago I had a core biopsy with ductal carcinoma in situ and recently had a lumpectomy. My doctor said there was 2.2 cm of DCIS, high grade with necrosis, margins negative, estrogen receptor negative. He is suggesting radiation therapy but when I went for a second opinion, the pathologist said [...]

NIH State-of-the-Science Conference Statement on Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS)

There is controversy in the breast health care community about using the term “carcinoma” for a non-invasive tumor (DCIS or LCIS).  I want to share with you the abstract from the NIH State-of-the-Science Conference Statement on Ductal Carcinoma in Situ which was just published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.  There is a [...]

Understanding Your Breast Cancer Stage

Knowing the stage of your breast cancer helps your medical team determine how big the cancer is and if it has spread. This helps them guide your therapy and provide reliable prognostic information.
In general, staging is done following your surgery, either after lumpectomy or mastectomy. It usually includes evaluation of the lymph nodes in your [...]

Could LCIS Be a Real Cancer and Not Just a Marker of Increased Risk?

I’ve written before about the controversy over lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) and whether it is just a marker of increased risk or possibly a precursor to invasive carcinoma, like ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The reason it was felt to be just a marker of increased risk was that most early studies showed that [...]

What Your Core Needle Biopsy Diagnosis Means

In the past decade, core needle biopsy has taken over fine needle aspiration (FNA) as the main tool for diagnosing image-detected or palpable breast lesions. While this biopsy technique is just a sample, cores of breast tissue are removed vs. individual cells as in FNA and thus the pathologist has more information to make an [...]

Does All Atypical Ductal Hyperplasia on Core Biopsy Need to be Excised Surgically?

The current dogma in the breast community is that a patient with a diagnosis of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) on needle core biopsy needs to have that area removed surgically.  This is because most studies showed that in about 20-30% of the time a more significant lesion was seen on the surgical excision, such as [...]

Breast Cancer Stage and Tumor Size

Question: My report says “in situ and invasive ductal carcinoma, intermediate grade, 2.4 cm, margins clear” and my lymph node was negative; the cancer is ER positive (80%), PR positive (60%), HER2 negative. My surgeon said I don’t need more surgery but I need to see an oncologist to discuss chemotherapy. I am [...]