dennycee
Posts:2
Stage 4 lung adenocarcinoma diagnosed October 2010.
On 10/13/14 I was dx with breast cancer-iDC, ER+, PR+, HER-, grade two. Due to prior stage 4 adenocarcinoma dx and treatment I would lke to limit my exposure to radiation. I was told that I was a good candidate for Mammosite brachytherapy. Results of my lumpectomy revealed they got positive margins and the cells demonstrate a noncontinuous growth pattern which now excludes brachytherapy. There will be a reexcisional lumpectomy later this month. I'm trying to understand why this would disqualify me and would it be worthwhile pursuing brachytherapy at a different facility.
Forums
Reply # - December 6, 2014, 10:53 AM
Hello denzie and welcome to
Hello denzie and welcome to Grace. I'm very sorry for your diagnoses. I don't know the answer to your question and will ask a faculty to comment. As often happens in lung cancer some radiation treatments become unhelpful in cases where cancer can't be contained but thankfully breast cancer is still much an unknown to me, lets wait for an expert.
I hope you do well and please don't hesitate to ask further questions.
Janine
Reply # - December 6, 2014, 12:20 PM
Brachytherapy is a strong
Brachytherapy is a strong consideration for people who have a very well localized cancer. The problem with a noncontinuous pattern of progression is that you can't be confident that the cancer is very well localized -- this makes brachytherapy a much less appropriate consideration. Right now, brachytherapy is far less established than more conventional radiation in this setting, so we would really prefer to limit its use to only those patients for whom brachytherapy is very well suited to the characteristics of their cancer.
Good luck.
-Dr. West
Reply # - December 6, 2014, 07:14 PM
Thank you.
Thank you.
Reply # - December 9, 2014, 11:25 AM
I agree with all of Dr. West
I agree with all of Dr. West's comments. For brachytherapy to be effective, patients must be properly selected.
All the best,
Dr Cianfrocca