Question- Radiation yes or no

[Leslie's sister]

Hello everyone-
I actually have two questions.
1) Tumor size 5 cm; one lymph node involved. Two oncs say no to radiation and radiologist says yes to radiation. Anyone in a somewhat similar situation? What did you do? I have read that radiation reduces the chances of cancer reoccuring locally and reductions are a good thing right.

2) Radiation and reconstructive surgery- Anyone out there that elected to have radiation and then had reconstructive surgery? Did you have any problems with reconstruction after radiation?

Thank you. My sister is at a crossroad right now. She definitely wants to decrease her chances of having the cancer come back locally but she wants reconstructive surgery and doesn't want to hurt her chances of being able to have that. Just let me know in general what your thoughts are on radiation

[Mary Jo]

Hi "Leslies" sister,

I had a 4.5 cm tumor - one microscopic cell in 1st node - 2nd node clear. I opted out of having any more nodes removed. Initially, when surgery was being done they said "no cancer" in either sentinel node but after closer inspection later they found the 1 microscopic cell. Because of that reason both radiation oncologists I consulted with said they would recommend radiation. I was radiated in 4 areas and now, looking back, am glad I did it. I figure after all I went through why not cover all my basis.

Take care and God Bless,

marejo

[Margerie]

Hi Sis,


I just had bilateral DIEP flap reconstruction. I had mastectomy on left side a year ago. I had 5 + nodes, so did elect radiation. It really fried the crap out of me (I was doing chemo concurrently). My rad onc did tell me that if you have 4 or more + nodes, rads is still indicated with mastectomy. They did my chest wall, axillary area and my supraclavicular nodes- 20-30% chance cancer there because of all my + nodes. There are risks to radiation. You may limit your reconstruction options- as implants have a high failure rate with irradiated issue. I wanted to do everything possible to beat this crap.

My PS wanted to wait until my red skin resolved. It took 5 months. My skin looked great, but he was shocked at how much scar tissue I had underneath. He scraped it all off. My new breast looks great and has healed nicely. I guess I am not totally out of the woods yet, but it has healed faster than the immediate/prophylactic/non-irradiated side. PS is not worried.


It is nice you are helping your sis. Maybe larger tumors that are close to the chest wall are in the "you need radiation" zone. Maybe get a second opinion from another rad onc.

[Bev]

Leslie, I lean towards aggressiveness. Get 2 to 3 opinions and go from there. This is seat of the pants, but you need to hit it with all you have. All the best. B

[Sherryg683]

I had lumpectomy and 37 radiation treatments in right breast. I had no choice and am glad I did it. Actually, I didn't react very bad at all to radiation. I had a slight burn but nothing major and looking at my breasts now, I really can't tell a difference in the skin texture of the two. I guess it differs with the individual. I have heard about losing elasticity after radiation and making it hard for implants, I have a friend who had implants done after her masectomy and radiation, she couldn't get them really big but who cares about that. Another friend was told she had to do the trans flap because of radiation. I would definately do radiation though. With Her2 being agressive, you want to do all you can..sherryg683

[Lauriemn]

I was told I was borderline for radiation because my tumor was 4.5 inches. I was told that you get radiation for 5 cm or bigger or 4+ nodes. I had 2+ nodes. I did radiation after chemo and had very little problem with it. I had my diep flap done 3 weeks ago and so far the radiated side looks good.

I also felt that I wanted to do everything I could to increase my chances of it not coming back.

Laurie