Post mastectomy

They will give the numbet of lymph nodes affected out of total number removed,  with amount in them.  It will give tumour/s size in mm.,  grade of tumor,  type/s of tumour (if more than one they can be different) and clearance.

Thank you for your response- so is it with those results they decide what’s next with treatment? 

Yes. If it's in any nodes then she'll have staging scans, including chest and abdomen CT scans and a bone scan. It's even more stressful,  but standard practice.  It they're clear she might have the cancer genomically treated to decide on chemo,  otherwise it will bw chemo (she's not already had it),  other drugs (depending on the results) and if ER+ then 5-10 years of letrozole (or similar).

Hi.  Not all hospitals do staging scans as standard.  I had 4 out of 21 positive nodes but did not have staging scans   I did however have chemo first before mastectomy so don't know if that makes a difference?

Hi Londonmum of 2,

They now do Oncotype DX, Endopredict (ie Genomic tests) etc for 1-3 positive nodes, I had them for 2 micromets.  My Oncologist said in the near future they are looking at up to 9 positive nodes and offering these tests! I'm afraid, I said Oh god, that sounds worrying!

Lol.  I think that's what the Optima trial I'm on is about (Google Optima breast trial). My oncologist said she'd withdraw my if more than a couple were positive,  and she runs tests on women with no positive nodes to decide on chemo:) 

What's Edinburgh like for treatment? I'm originally from there, and confess to going to the Royal Infirmary a&e when up last during my staging scan meltdown for an x- ray and blood tests because I made myself ill thinking it was in my lungs! I was  impressed how quickly they saw me compared the my overworked local a&e. 

Hi ,

Your mum’s situation is similar to mine, I had left side mastectomy first, as node biopsy was inconclusive but 3 weeks later I had node clearance.

The results will be a grade or stage, my results were done using a TNM scale, ( I think it depends were you live)

So it gives a grade of the tumour, T meaning Tumour, so basically a size, so grade 1 is under 2 cms, grade 2 is between 2-4 cms and grade 3 is more than 5cms, the N stands for node involvement, so number of nodes effected, Mine was N2a, 4-6 nodes affected so I presume N1 is less than 4. The a in my case means the cancer cells were stuck to each other and NOT to another structure, b means there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes behind the breastbone. M means the cancer has spread to another part of the body other than the lymph nodes. M0, it hasn’t spread anywhere else.

I had a bone scan and chest and abdominal ct scans to make sure there was no spread, there wasn’t.

As nodes were involved I was told by my oncologist it’s standard procedure to offer Chemotherapy, as while the tumour has been removed along with tissue etc, it’s just a case of mopping up! Just in case a microscopic cell is left behind.

Radiotherapy can then be recommended for some people too, as each type of cancer is different the team will look at the best possible course of action for your mum.

Wishing you and your mum my very best wishes, pls let us know how she gets in the her results.

Gentle Hugs x x

Hello, 

thank you so much for your very detailed and helpful response. That clears a lot of things for me and mummy. I will keep in touch. I hope you are also well. 

Lots of love, xxx