Question: My pathology results showed my cancer was 3+ but FISH was done too and it showed a 1.7 so my doctor said I am not positive and therefore don’t qualify for Herceptin. From what I read 3+ is positive.

Question: I am 33 years old with a mother and aunt all with breast cancer. I was diagnosed with IDC, grade III two months ago. I also tested positive for BRCA-1. However, my cancer was not the usual type according to my doctor–it was not the “triple negative” type and so I [...]

Question: What does triple negative mean regarding breast cancer? My doctor told me that all of the special studies the lab performed on my tumor were negative and that means it can be a more aggressive type of cancer.

Question: My breast biopsy report said I have ductal carcinoma in situ, high grade with comedonecrosis; estrogen and progesterone receptor positive and her-2/neu 3+ over-expressed. My doctor referred me to a radiation therapy doctor and recommends I take Tamoxifen but not chemotherapy because the her2/neu result shouldn’t have been run on my cancer. [...]

Question: What is the difference between a Her2/neu score 2+ and score 2.6?
Answer: It sounds like your cancer was first tested using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and it was scored 2+. Approximately 25-30% of cancers that are 2+ by immunohistochemistry will be amplified by FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization). Thus, all cancers that get [...]

I’m sure most of you have heard of stem cells and how researchers are trying to study them to cure a variety of diseases.  Many of you may not know that stem cells were identified in the breast in 2003 and researchers are trying to determine their role in breast cancer development.
A few months ago, [...]

I have uploaded the Tutorial on Breast Pathology, Part II which covers the basics of invasive carcinoma.  As with the other tutorials it is in pdf format.  Please feel free to comment or post suggestions for future articles. I hope you find this information useful.
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Many patients ask how they know if they are getting the appropriate treatment for their breast cancer. No two patients are alike and therefore treatment decisions are based upon your unique situation and the type of cancer you have. This is one reason why it is important to get a second opinion on your pathology [...]

Question: I was just diagnosed with Stage I invasive lobular carcinoma, 1.4 cm, ER/PR positive and Her2/neu negative. But my doctor told me the pathologists found some cancer cells in my sentinel lymph node, but they were so small that he said they are called “isolated tumor cells.” What does this mean?

A recent study from MD Anderson Cancer Center looked at a group of women with breast cancers that tested positive for HER2 over-expression who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy.  Of the women who still had residual invasive cancer in their breast following their surgery, approximately 30% of them had cancers that were now HER2 negative.
We performed a [...]