type of DCIS

[Sahari]

Hi,

My mom just had a lumpectomy for DCIS. Pathology report says that the size is at least 0.8 cm. They got a clear margin. The closest margin was 2 mm. No invasion was seen. The type of DCIS was solid with intermediate nuclear and necrosis was also present. Does anybody know what grade is this DCIS? is it high grade comedo? I get conflicting information regarding solid type. Some article say it is a low grade DCIS and some say it falls under comedo category. She will start radiation in 4 weeks. Thanks,

[Sahari]

Hi,

My mom had a core biopsy 2 months prior to her lumpectomy. The biopsy showed DCIS. After 2 months she had lumpectomy. On the day of the surgery, she had a mamogram prior to the surgery. After the surgery, I saw the surgeon and she said to me that they didn't see anything abnormal (not even a DCIS) on the mamogram but since they knew the biopsy spot, they removed 4 cm around that area and sent to path. Well, the path report showed 0.8 cm DCIS. My question is: how come the mamogram that they did on the day of the surgery didn't show 0.8 cm DCIS? Isn't it scary that this size DCIS, which is not very small, sometimes is not shown on the mamorgam? How can we trust mamogram moving forward? They said, she will have one MRI and 6 months later mamo, 6 months later MRI, ..... Does MRI show DCIS?

Thanks

[Sahari]

Thanks for your reply.

Regards,

[japdip]

There are 5 sub-types of DCIS .... solid is one and comedo is another.  If the Path. reports "solid" then that is the sub-type of her particular DCIS. Clean margins for DCIS can be from 1mm to 10mm .... so the 2mm in your Mother's case is sufficient as far as the normal required margin. Regards ....

[Sahari]

Hi,

Yes I got the actual pathology report and it says solid type. There is no name of comedo anywhere in the report but I thought solid could be a subcategory to comedo. I hope it is not comedo as I've heard everywhere that comedo is the most aggressive type of DCIS. When she had her post op appointment with her oncologist we were supposed to discuss the pathology report at that time but the path report wasn't available so the doctor called path department and got the info verbally first. All they told us on that day was that the DCIS wasn't invasive and they got a clear margin. One day later they faxed me the actual path report so we really didn't get a chance to discuss the path report in detail with the oncologist. I am trying to make another app with the oncologist to reveiw the path report in further detail. By the way the path report says the closest margin was 2 mm. Is this an enough margin? Thanks for your reply.

[japdip]

If this is not stated in the Pathology report then it wouldn't be classed as Comedo type .... I don't know if you had access to the actual report or a reading given to you and there may be a "Final" report that is available. If you don't have the actual copy you certainly may request one. Your Mother's Oncologist would also be able to give you the detailed information you are seeking.  Regards ..