Surgery New Mets
 

Does anyone think that surgery that they had might have inadvertantly put met. cancer cells into their blood? HavahJ

I can't say for sure, but the timing was there...went in for reconstruction surgery, 3 months later had mets....I will never know.

My excisional biopsy of a chest nodule last fall resulted in spread across my chest, in the skin. I don't know if the surgery released cells into the blood or if the healing from the surgery(it was a more extensive procedure than anticipated in order to get clear margins)stimulated the cancer to spread due to growth factor that's produced to facilitate healing. This is a controversial subject, some surgeons think it's a combination perhaps. I do know my surgeon declined to consider pulling my old port when I had my new one placed; he said the location of the old port was too close to the active area on my chest and he was afraid of even more spread. I didn't ask if he thought it would be due to malignant cells in the blood stream or the growth factor. Will try to remember to ask his opinion next time I see him.

<3 Lolly

I had the same discussion recently with a friend.

In less than two months after my mastectomy and immediate DIEP flap reconstruction, I noticed a pea-sized lump just under the skin toward the outside part of my breast when I was putting on deorderant.

It was right under the tiny scar from one of my core biopsies. (I had DCIS and an infiltrating tumor in the same breast, and had a core biopsy of each). The tiny lump was the breast cancer. The breast surgeon removed it and now I have a lumpectomy in my reconstructed breast. I haven't had any problems with it since then. I'm not sure whether the little lump was due to seeding from the biospy (although it seems like it's from that) or from some cancer left behind from my skin-sparing mastectomy.

I don't think it's unrealistic to have concerns. Sometimes I think about potential spread of cancer from my lung nodule biopsy which was done through my back. I'm less concerned about spread from the actual wedge resection of my lung to remove the nodule.