TNBC grade 3

Hi Protaras 

I was diagnosed with grade 3 TNBC 3 years ago and had a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The only reason I was offered chemotherapy was because their was a tiny deposit of cancer cells found in one of the sentinel lymph nodes that were removed, otherwise I would have only had radiotherapy as adjuvant treatment.

Everyone's treatment plans are tailor made to them and your oncologist will make sure that they don't over, or under, treat you.

So the short answer to your question is no, in my experience it isn't a definite that you'll have chemotherapy after surgery.

Anne

Thank you Anne.

 I will find out next week after my Mastectomy.

For a grade 3 TNBC I think you will be offered chemo unless your tumour was less than 0.5cm. It’s not usual to look for spread if your lymph nodes were clear, but worth asking the question if your pathology report following mastectomy identifies any LVI at the tumour site. I was found to be metastatic shortly after diagnosis when I had a scan for a different reason, despite clear lymph nodes. The source was the vascular invasion. 

Thank you Coddfish. I hope future treatments go well for you.

Thanks. It was all back in 2022. Since then, following immunotherapy, chemotherapy and liver ablation, I have had a sustained remission for 18 months and am not on any treatment. So whereas metastatic TNBC was once something for which outcomes were poor, modern treatments bring a lot more hope.