To have or not to have Radiotherapy

Hi , sorry you’re having this dilemma. My case was different as my cancer was invasive but I thought I’d pop in with an example of a lovely lady here who had DCIS - I hope I’m getting her story right but I’m sure she decided against the radiotherapy and ended up with invasive cancer not long after. Her name here is  and she was an amazing support to many of us here. I’m sure she won’t mind me tagging her so that you can look up her profile and see if her case was similar to yours. She only pops in occasionally now but was a real tower of strength and support during her treatment. She started the ‘Walking back to happiness’ thread, in the chat section, which is still going strong many years later! 

Good luck with your decision, obviously each case is different and it may that radiotherapy might be regarded as over treatment for some DCIS cases. Love and hugs, HFxx

in 2015 I was diagnosed with 11mm of high grade DCIS which was removed with WLE.  I had 15 sessions of radiotherapy and no hormone treatment.  My surgeon took it for granted I'd have radiotherapy thought she did say that some consider it over treatment for DCIS.  She felt it was the best she could offer her patients.  It does mean though that if you get a recurrence you cannot have radiation again to the same breast.  I'm glad I had radiotherapy as it was non invasive treatment.

Hi Yvonne, I had a high density DCIS in 2013 and had a lumpectomy and radiotherapy, my consultant said that the chances of it coming back were pretty high without radiotherapy so I took it. All I can say is radiotherapy whilst occasionally trickier for some isn’t a dreadful treatment, I personally found it very manageable and I’d make the same decision again for that extra few percent chance of being ok. Sadly for me I now find myself back here but I know in my own mind that I gave myself the best chance at the time, I’d hate to feel that I could’ve done something to prevent this now and didn’t. I hope that helps x

I was always going to take everything they threw at me, but I'm mid-40s. I had chemo to shrink mine first and radiotherapy was a walk in the park compared to that. I worked full time during rads, asked them for afternoon appointments so I could do that. I had very few side effects (some people suffer from a skin reaction) and was fully recovered within the 6 week timeframe they mentioned.

Reading your percentages, it looks very worthwhile. My understanding is that lumpectomy plus rads is as good as mastectomy for non-recurrence.

I am a little surprised you are not getting hormone therapy with an ER score of 8/8. Did they give a reason for not offering one of the Aromatase Inhibiters?

Hi HappyFeet1 ! 
thank you for passing on the link to me - I have read it and it does give me something to think about ! 
whereas I have the percentages re the DCIS returning - I wasn’t provided with the same percentage for the risks associated with the Radiotherapy so I obviously need to ask more questions …

I will email the oncologist over the weekend once I have all my questions together ! 
thanks again for your response 

yvonne x

Hi, 

Thank you for responding - I think the reason for no hormone treatment is probably that I’m older than you and post menopausal ? I will ask again …… 

Having spoken to a few people about the percentages now I think I’m more inclined do go down the Radiotherapy route whereas when they wouldn’t  give me a recommendation, initially I felt it couldn’t be that important otherwise they definitely would have but perhaps that is not the case ! They just want it to be your decision ? 
thank again for your help …..

Hi Anna, 

Firstly, Im so sorry you’re back again - that must feel awful…..

Your response has helped me hugely as I would hat to feel I hadn’t given myself the best possible chance if I too were to have a recurrence…..  I think I underestimated the importance as a result of the oncologist not having an opinion ! 

good luck with your treatments and I wish you the very best …

Yvonne x

Hi Carol, 

thank you and these responses have been really helpful in coming closer to making a decision which will probably now be to have the treatment 

I’m so pleased to hear you are clear after 5 years - CONGRATULATIONS ! 

Yvonne x

Your body still produced oestrogen when your post menopausal so they usually give you an aromatase inhibiter to stop all oestrogen if you're post menopausal. I would probably double check that if you are ER+.  If you are ER+, that means the cancer has been growing using oestrogen so the usual treatment is to stop its production. Hopefully they'll give you a reason for not going down the hormone therapy route if you ask them.

Thanks sunflower I appreciate it. I think it’s really hard when the health professionals were involved with don’t give us an opinion to go on. I think they should help guide us. All the very best of luck yourself xx