Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological response

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Blizz
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Re: Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological resp

Postby Blizz » Sun Mar 13, 2011 10:51 pm

that is great news Fina! :mexwave:

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Re: Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological resp

Postby After BC » Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:23 pm

Hello ladies, thanks for all your replies. Alot has happened since my last post... good and bad....

Good news - I've had a mastectomy on my left side and I'm one week post op. Pathology came back with complete pathological response!! :v_happy: :v_happy: :v_happy: Tumour cells are dead and they couldn't find anything in the lymph nodes.
So the lump that was still showing up on the ultrasound was the remaining tumour scar tissue after all.

Some bad news.. I found out I am positive for the BRCA1 mutation - will post more about this in another thread

yowyow, don't worry my chin is up! my fists are up! will never give up to beat this thing!
Dx Sep 10, Triple Negative, neoadjuvant chemo 6x TAC. Left breast mastectomy 0/5 lymph nodes. Complete pathological response. response. Currently having 26xrads

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Re: Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological resp

Postby yowyow » Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:47 pm

Hey Fina, chin up chicky! :hugs:

Firstly I reckon from 4cm down to 1cm is a massive result, I know in your heart you would of wanted
it to be GONE.... but think of it this way............. some people who have a 1cm tumor without lymph node involvement
wouldn't even do chemo - just rads- good result!!.

Obviously chemo worked for you! (not as much as you would of liked I know)

There are obviously some decisions ahead for you needing some serious thought, please
post away................... good to get a "think bowl" happening - please also feel free to pm me.

again fists and chin up :wave: :hugs:
Nav
every day without laughter is a wasted day !!!!


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Re: Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological resp

Postby Lisa8 » Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:06 pm

Hi Fina,

I am sorry that the lump didn't disappear totally as you had hoped. Did your onc expect the tumour to shrink or disappear totally? I recently spoke to a lady who did chemo first before her surgery and in her case it was advised so she would have a smaller tumour to remove in surgery, therefore she was able to have a lumpectomy rather than mastectomy.

Please let us know how you go after speaking to your breast surgeon and onc again

Lisa :hugs:

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Re: Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological resp

Postby Blizz » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:06 pm

Fina, have you discussed the platinum chemo options with your oncologist? Yowyow has posted information on this in the past and I have done some reading over the last few weeks - there have been several clinical trials over recent years with platinum chemo (in particular carboplatin) with promising results in TNBC patients. It doesn't seem to be widely used in Australia yet for TNBC, but my oncologist is a big advocate. He has a special interest in TNBC and closely follows the latest developments.

I am starting chemo tomorrow - 4x fortnightly Epirubicin / Cyclophosphamide followed by 12x weekly Paclitaxel / Carboplatin.

I completely understand you were hoping for no visible lump and it would be disappointing it is still there but reducing it by 75% before surgery is a great start. Will your surgeon operate first or will you have further chemo?

:hugs:

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Re: Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological resp

Postby Janette » Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:56 pm

After BC,
I'm sorry to hear that you are down after your U/S. Will they remove the remaining tumour with surgery? I don't recall anyone that has completely been tumour free after chemo without surgery as well. Most have had surgery to remove a smaller area with a better margins.

We have had members who have had chemo before surgery. Some don't frequent the forum often and I'm unsure whether they were TN.

Please let us know how you go. :hugs:
Janette


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Re: Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological resp

Postby After BC » Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:07 pm

Lisa, After surfing the web I've seen alot of ppl on dose dense AC for TNBC

I've finished my last dose of TAC last tuesday and had my ultrasound this morning. I'm very down :sniff: .

Although my breast surgeon can no longer feel the lump there is still a 1 cm tumour showing on the ultrasound :bawl:.
Dx Sep 10, Triple Negative, neoadjuvant chemo 6x TAC. Left breast mastectomy 0/5 lymph nodes. Complete pathological response. response. Currently having 26xrads

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Re: Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological resp

Postby Lisa8 » Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:58 am

Hi there, :wave:

I also had basal like triple neg bc. I did dose dense AC every 2 weeks and then had 12 weekly taxol treatments. Hopefully I was in the percent that have a complete response because I am still NED 3 years from dx. My chemo was after surgery nut it sounds like chemo is definitely working for you :v_happy:

Love and best wishes,

Lisa :hugs:

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Triple Negative & achieving a complete pathological response

Postby After BC » Thu Feb 03, 2011 5:03 pm

Hello to all the triple negs gals in this forum :heart: :heart: :heart:

I'm a research scientist and have been reading up medical journals since my diagnosis of Basal-like breast cancer in Sept 2010. Reading all the info on trip neg has frightened me to no end as they commonly use such words as 'poor prognosis' and 'aggressive'.Being trip neg is rare, however seeing all you women in this forum have really inspired me and given me hope that I can beat this !! I have also found a recent and very comprehensive review in the New England Journal of Medicine about trip neg BC (N Engl J Med 2010; 363: 1938-48), such as the differences in survival between trip neg and other receptor status.

What is really interesting (and i cling to this piece of information whenever i feel down) is if the patient is able to achieve a complete pathological response (no live cancer cells found during surgery) to chemo then the prognosis is extremely good. The downside is only 20% of patients have this response.

Currently my chemo regimen is TAC given in 3 week cycles. My tumour (originally 4cm) responded extremely well halving in size by the third cycle. I also have one diseased lymph node which reduced to normal size. My 6th and final cycle will be on tuesday :clap: and I swear i can still feel a tiny bump left so i'm hoping the last cycle will completely obliterate the remaining cells (crossing fingers furiously). It seems most women have their surgery first then chemo.....Has anyone else had chemo first?? And what type of :chemo: did you have ??


:heart: Fina
Dx Sep 10, Triple Negative, neoadjuvant chemo 6x TAC. Left breast mastectomy 0/5 lymph nodes. Complete pathological response. response. Currently having 26xrads


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