Has Anyone With DCIS Had Chemotherapy?

[RobinP]

NOt all DCIS is her2+. High grade comedo necrosis DCIS is her2+ at about 70-80% of the time. Probably the lower grades are not as her2+. However, before taking Herceptin, a her2 FISH test would be indicated.

[RobinP]

High grade DCIS is usually lumped together in the breast, whereas low grade DCIS is very diffuse, necessitating a mastectomy. Still, I would opt for a mastectomy if this cancer has returned for a second time despite surgery with rads.


No one will ever know why your cancer came back at the same spot, whether the surgery was bad or the radiation. Are you sure you had clean margins when they radiated? Maybe a second pathology opinion on the old pathology would tell you. You know sometimes pathology errors do occur. If you had unclean margins, then that explains why radiation didn't work.

Good luck to you with your new treatment plans.

[mom22girlz]

My report said extensive microinvasion, er pr+ and her2+. I had to change onc. along the way and the 2nd one is the one that said all DCIS is her2+. He wanted to test only the microinvasion part separately, but the first lab had divided the "tumor?" poorly, so it could not be tested further. My rad. onc. said although it was not his area of expertice, he felt I should have chemo due to the her2+ and my age, 47. The regular onc. said that the way the slides were done also prevented him from doing the oncotype test. So, now I feel even more confused. I don't feel quite so confident..... Also, my lab results never gave % for er and pr +.But, the her2 test was 6.41 ratio which he said was quite amplified. Is this all very confusing to others too? Thanks for any insight you may have. susan

[tousled1]

Skibunny,

Since you are in a clincial trial you can only take the meds that are given in the trial. I'm sure that if you test positive for HER2, that after you have your surgery you will be able to go on Herceptin.