Breast Cancer info

[LadyShea]

A girl I know from various infertility boards, who I met in person when she traveled here for IVF, has been diagnosed with infiltrating ductal carcinoma. She is being told she will have to have a full masectomy plus chemo. This seems extreme to me. I have already urged her to get a second opinion, but does anyone know where i might find her some more info? She is especially wondering the possible causes

[Dominion]

There are two major forms of breast cancer, invasive and non-invasive. Non-Invasive breast cancer consist of cancer cells that are usually confined to the ducts and do not invade surrounding fatty and connective tissues of the breast. Invasive breast cancer consist of cancer cells that break through the duct and lobular wall and invade the surrounding fatty and connective tissues of the breast.

Infiltrating ductal carcinoma (aka) IDC is the most common form of invasive breast cancer, accounting for 80 to 85% of all breast cancers. The problem is that it is invasive...whether or not your friend will need a full mastectomy will depend on how far the cancer has invaded the surrounding breast tissue. See IDC begins in the milk ducts of the breast and penetrates the wall of the duct, invading the fatty tissue of the breast. It can also spread outside the breast which, needless to say, would be very bad news. However, if the cancer had metastasize I don't think they would recommend breast removal and chemo (I lost a friend several years ago due to a missed cancerous tumor by her doctor. By the time the idiot found out it was malignant it was too late for my friend. They recommended no course of treatment).

So it sounds like your friend's cancer has spread throughout the breast, but has not moved outside the breast.

As to possible causes, I believe there is a genetic component and an environmental component. Now what they might be, well people make lots of money investigating that sort of thing but I don't think they have come up with a clear answer yet.

Since this is the most common form of cancer, doing a search using "Infiltrating ductal carcinoma" should take you to all sorts of websites with better information than I can provide. I know what little I know because of my friend.

Hope this helps.

[Scotty]

http://www.mayoclinic.com/
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com (our site here).

I am just going through all of this with my sister, you can read my journal entries if you like, it does have information in it about the exact stuff you are talking about.

Some of the reason for a masectomy may be because of the size of the original tumor. They grade (in stages) it on size of tumor, whether it has gotten into the lymph nodes and then whether it has spread from there.

There may be many other details you don't know or haven't told us (like if it has spread to the lymph nodes, how many, what tests she has had so far etc).

They can recommended a masectomy at any level. It does decrease the likelihood of a recurrance in any of the cases.

Even if this person decides to get a second opinion, I wouldn't wait very long at all to get that opinion. Time matters.

-Scott

[LadyShea]

Thanks Dominion and Scotty. She just got the diagnosis yesterday, so doesn't have any details yet; they had been assuming benign fatty tumor since the lump was found last week. She is a fitness instructor, no family history of cancer, eats right, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, etc. which is why she is so shocked...also going from zero to masectomy in a day is hard to wrap the mind around.

She is a nice bubbly lady, she isn't into research etc. so I thought I would help her. I did a Google, but the information was really generalized and, as with all cancer, each case is individual I guess :(

Scotty, I remembered about your sister this morning and planned to reread your journals.

[Beth]

You know, I do an exam everytime I shower. There is no history in my family, but my husband made me promise I would check frequently. The freaking thing about this is that I have not one iota what to look for. I mean, feel for especially since breast tissue has some lumps in it, especially if you really push and feel deep. And My lymph nodes always swell when I become ill with some type of throat infection, so, a lump under my arm means crap to me if I'm becoming ill.

[LadyShea]

My doctor had me put my tongue in my cheek then run my hand over it. He said that is what a breast lump feels like. Also, if any of your known, normal lumpiness changes, grows, begins to hurt, etc. You do not push hard, soap on the hands and run the flat of the fingers firmly but not hard in a spiral from the nipple out.

[Beth]

I do that, I do not bruise myself. I use about the same pressure as the doctors use, just sometimes it is more tender than others. I did the tongue thing. Very useful, thank you. At least now I have an idea.

[MollyMac]

The freaking thing about this is that I have not one iota what to look for. I mean, feel for especially since breast tissue has some lumps in it, especially if you really push and feel deep.

My mother had a mastectomy when she was about 50. The lump she found (by chance - she hadn't been looking) was a bit like the tongue in cheek. She saw the family doctor who had a feel and said it was most likely active breast tissue. Then he noticed a tiny dimple on the other breast which felt like a small hard pea. That was the malignant lump - my mother hadn't even noticed it. So one moral of the story is to look carefully using a mirror for the undersides, as well as feel using the flat of your hand.

This isn't to suggest the larger 'tongue in cheek' type lumps are always benign - most are but some certainly aren't. Because of my family history I always get them checked out and have already endured umpteen needles being stuck in them and one mammogram so far.