Mucinous Carcinoma of the breast
Comments
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Tricianne...I could only imagine how deliriously happy you and your family are!!!!!
Two years ago, my family was reunited with family that we lost for 4 generations! Close to 40 members of my family traveled to Florida to meet 3 members from our "lost" family who traveled all the way from Argentina. I count the day we were reunited, as one of the happiest days of my life! Both sides of the family were looking for one another for close to 75 years! Back in the 1980's one of my cousin's even went to Argentina in search of our family and came thisclose to finding them. It wasn't until 3 years ago, when the YOUNGEST Argentinian was home on vacation from college and had "NOTHING TO DO" that he decided to look for us! He ended up finding on FACEBOOK my cousin's son who resides in Portland, Oregon! Thanks to G-d, the young man on FACEBOOK was the son of the cousin who had gone to Argentina and KNEW we had "lost" family in Argentina and IMMEDIATELY....both young men contacted their fathers with the great news!!!!
I think even finding a "lost" brother or sister is even more spectacular. My father-in-law spent his adult lifetime looking for a "lost" half-sister and never was reunited in life with her. I often wonder if nowadays the outcome would have been different.
I'm sending your way a warm smile with heartfelt emotion that you've found your brother!
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Thanks heaps for your understanding answer and the heartfelt smile
. There are some incredible stories of how technology helps us with reconnecting with "lost" family members.Yours is certainly worthy of a television episode, real life is more interesting than fictious stories. I feel for your father-in-law to have never been reconnected with his half sister. e were slowly coming to terms that this would be the outcome for us as I had tried so many search avenues including online.My 1st stepmother, after my mother had died, had a strange pattern of marrying, having a child, going back to work, having an affair with a workmate, running off with said workmate, moving interstate, changing her name, having another child whose name began with T, then abandoning that baby, running off etc then coming back to claim the last baby or in the fourth instance actually kidnapping that baby. So it was the fourth child who found my father's name via Ancestory.com.au and connecting with us. (This is the short version) So we not only found our lovely half brother (we cared for him for 6 mths while 1st stepmother ran off, so we are v.attached emotionally) but 3 other stepbrothers & sister.
So if you are in the giving up stage think again.
Now back to praying for all my MC sisters for encouragement, courage and renewed health.
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The differences in the histological types of breast cancer and the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy: The relationship between the outcome and the clinicopathological characteristics.
Authors
Nagao T,et al. Show allNagao T, Kinoshita T, Hojo T, Tsuda H, Tamura K, Fujiwara Y.Journal
Breast. 2012 Jan 23. [Epub ahead of print]
Affiliation
Department of Breast Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, 5-1-1, Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan.
Abstract
Although effective regimens have been established for invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified (IDC), the efficacy and prognosis of other minor types of breast cancer are unknown because of their rareness. The clinicopathological features and prognosis of other minor types concerning the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) were evaluated in this study. A total of 562 patients were classified according to the Japanese and the World Health Organization (WHO) classifications, and the number of IDC and other special types (SP) was 500 and 62. The SP patients had a significantly poorer clinicopathological response to NAC and less breast-conservative therapy than those with IDC. According to the WHO classification, mucinous carcinoma, metaplastic carcinomas and apocrine carcinoma also responded poorly, and patients with metaplastic carcinomas and invasive lobular carcinoma had a significantly poorer prognosis. Despite the poor response to chemotherapy, patients with mucinous carcinoma and apocrine carcinoma had a good prognosis. The response to NAC and the prognosis vary for each histological type. For some types, the prognosis was not related to the clinicopathological response to NAC.
BACKGROUND: In the treatment of breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has become the standard treatment modality for downstaging purposes. Although effective regimens have been established for the treatment of invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified (IDC), the data about the efficacy and prognosis for patients with other minor types of breast cancer are insufficient because of the rareness of these tumors. Defining the relationship between each histological type and the clinicopathological response to NAC is essential to optimizing individualized treatment.
METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the clinicopathological features and classification of the histological types based on the Japanese and the World Health Organization (WHO) classifications before and after NAC in 562 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent curative treatment after NAC between 1998 and 2008. The prognosis was estimated for each histological type.
RESULTS: Of the 562 patients, the number of cases of IDC and other special types (SP) was 500 and 62. In the SP group, the clinicopathological response to NAC was significantly poorer, and the patients underwent breast-conservative therapy less frequently than did the IDC patients. According to the WHO classification, mucinous carcinoma, metaplastic carcinomas and apocrine carcinoma responded poorly to NAC. The disease-free survival and overall survival were significantly worse for patients with metaplastic carcinomas (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001) and with invasive lobular carcinoma (p = 0.03 and p < 0.001) than other cancers. Despite their poor response to treatment, patients with mucinous carcinoma and apocrine carcinoma had a good prognosis.
CONCLUSIONS: The response to standardized NAC and prognosis varies for each histological type. For some types, the prognosis was not associated with the clinicopathological response to NAC. Innovative regimens should therefore be investigated for each histological type to achieve the best response.
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VR - Thanks for keeping us up-to-date!
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VR: Can you explain in plain English? My take is that MC and other rare types do not respond well to chemo. MC has a better survival rate than other rare types mentioned. Am I on the right track?
Thanks for being our resident expert. I mentioned you in a research study I am participating in at my clinic. They asked who my sources of info were about breast cancer. I said "breastcancer.org and specifically Voracious Reader.
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Hi everyone, yes I have just been emailing to and from with my Pathologist ( the bowel cancer that I had 11 years ago had a significant mucinous component which she was interested in viewing the pathology summary) and her comments about this site and the work you do on it Voracious Reader is "I commend you on accessing such high quality information via the Mucinous Carcinoma of the Breast link" (she has inquired where I had obtained some of my info which she considered to be very accurate and informative). She is concerned that some websites don't have this level of accuracy. So well done VR.
Blessings and prayers for all on this site.
TricianneAust Diagnosis: 10/20/2010, DCIS Pure Mucinous Cancer , 2cm, Stage I, Grade 1, 0/3 nodes, ER+75% /PR+ 75%, HER2-. Lumpectomy,Tamoxifen,25 x radiation, Vit D deficiency being treated. Feeling fantastically normal & healthy. Nov 2011 Mammogram all fine.
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treegirl...You are more than on the right track! You are correct. The study found that people with mucinous breast cancers that had chemotherapy BEFORE surgery, still had cancerous cells in their breasts. So for them, the chemo did not work well. Now we can make some INFERENCES from the study. Basically, we have all heard before that Grade 1 tumors do not respond as well to chemo as Grades 2 and 3 but... that Grade 1 tumors have better prognosis'. If you read these boards you will see that women with more aggressive tumors are given more aggressive therapies to get their risk of recurrence way, way, down... down to a point where most of us with mucinous tumors are, with our risk of recurrence being low to begin with. Likewise, most mucinous breast cancers are usually HIGHLY ER positive, so for most of us our weapon of choice, whether it be a Grade 1, or 2 is hormonal therapy, Tamoxifen or an AI...rather than chemotherapy.
That study pretty much confirms the NCCN breast cancer treatment guidelines for the "favorable" rare breast cancers which is inclined to recommend chemo for node positive mucinous breast cancers or those that are over 3 cm or may have other negative characteristics.... What I like best about the study, is that they ARE STUDYING mucinous and other rare breast cancers...Hopefully, with more research, oncologists will have a better understanding how to treat us.
Treegirl and Tricianne...When I was diagnosed, I found, as I'm sure you both did as well, there was a dearth of information on mucinous breast cancer. However, when I found this website and THIS thread, the sisters who had posted before me, provided me with a wealth of information and comfort. As I accumulated whatever little data there was out there, I felt there should be one place to put all of it. So, this is my gift to all the sisters who came before me and gave me hope. Likewise, I hope it is a gift to the sisters who haven't joined our brethren yet, but will, sadly one day. I hope it offers them strength and hope through those awful first weeks of diagnosis....
Thoughts and prayers as always!
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This is the latest mucinous breast cancer question posted on the Johns Hopkins Ask an Expert website. It can be found in the Hormonal Therapy section...
47 year old dx. with Pure mucinous IDC sept 2011, grade 1, er+ 9.3, pr+8.3, HER2- 8.7, Oncotype score 6, had full mastectomy, reconstruction left brest, 3 sentinal nodes only one with 1mm micro mets, node negative. Tx: no chemo recommended, Tamoxifan and Zoladex. There is controversy at TBCC in Calgary that suggests Zoladex over kill, some oncologists say it is not. also found an Italian study that says Tamoxifan with about 15 mg of melatonin can reduce the rate of recurrance from 50% to 90%. Also found that ground flax seed is very effective as well. Your thoughts? Replied JHU's Breast Center Reply 2/6/2012 there is a lot of information out there on the internet regarding various research studies done. Not all are embraced by oncology specialists resulting in changes in standard of care however. this can be due to the small size in the # of patients included in the study or how the research was conducted or conflicting results in another similar study. what is best for you to do is to request that your case be presented to the weekly breast cancer tumor board for a team discussion. this way you get the opinion of multiple oncologists who are experienced in taking care of breast cancer patients similar to yourself 0 -
Hi everyone,
I am now in a place i could barely imagine when i first joined this thread ... looking BACK on surgeries and radiation and on to 6mth checkups. For those just joining, it might not feel like it now, but normal does start to return eventually.
After surgery and radiation, my biggest worry was the tamoxifen. My Oncotype test said i had a 9% chance of recurrence with radiation + tamoxifen, and a 13% chance of recurrence with only radiation. After hearing about all the bad side effects of tamoxifen, i was seriously wondering if i should opt for those extra 400 basis points of risk. But I'm happy to report that difficult decision was not required.
Along the way, I ended up with a Pulmonary Embolism too, so I've been put on anticoagulants -- another thing that works well with the risks of tamoxifen. Weird to be so grateful for a daily needle to the belly, but if nothing else, a cancer diagnosis gives one a dark sense of humour.
keep on slogging, ladies. i hope you find this a temporary stop along your way.
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Katie... Thank you for updating us on how you are doing. I am sorry to hear about your complication. I could only imagine how frightening it must have been to have both diagnoses. You sound like a real courageous trooper! I wish you well! We all need to redefine normal and I guess having a sense of humor can always help!
Thoughts and prayers to you!0 -
Hi Katiekaboom, I thoroughly agree with you then when you first get onto this thread you mind is so full of thinking about MC breast cancer that you can't every imagine it shrinking in significance in your thoughts and in your life. I reckon I keyed into this site several times a day at first to calm my thinking so it was an excellent site to discover. But normal is possible and a very pleasant place to be at. Sorry about your Pulmonary Embolism to add to your concerns. Once you get settled with Tamoxifen even that settles down to normal as the side effects decrease.
Hi Voraciousreader I do like your comment about redefining normal. I wonder if they have done any studies about the healing effect of a sense of humour, you will be the right person to ask. I have just been having my routine colonoscopy for the bowel cancer I had 11 years ago and as a group of eight go through at the same time with my specialist its very interesting to see the different ways the variety of patients deal with it, there is no doubt that the first timers are much more serious and anxious than those of us repeating the performance. There were a couple of quite funny bright patients going through with me. The specialist and the anaesthetist both have a good sense of humour so it was actually quite a funny time. The best bit of course is getting the "all clear" diagnosis that does put a smile on my face. I know they have done some studies on the definite correlation of having a stongly positive relationship with your therapist and an improvement in prognosis. Both of these guys are very easy to relate to and are "good lookers" so anything that improves the experience is worthwhile.
Meanwhile I know the spiritual aspect gives me a lot of strength so continuing prayers for improved outcomes for you all and may normal come up on your horizon as soon as possible. Blessings Tricianne
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Tricianne...I guess equal doses of humor and prayer can be great types of medicine!
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Hi all the MC gals that click into this link,
I am hoping that it is a good thing that things are so quiet at the present. I Log in and no further action at present. It reminds me to keep up to date with my prayer support for you all I have my list of people by the computer so while my slow computer is getting into action the prayers are already in action. So I do hope to that anyone who needs this link is finding it promptly it took me two months from Diagnosis to stumble across it, now its my mainstay. So blessings on you all Tricianne
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Hi ladies,
I hope that you are all doing well! It is a gorgeous sunny day here...what a gift!
I just wanted to wish you all well and thank you for the support that you have given. I'm taking a break from BCO for a while. This site has been helpful but is keeping me in 'cancerland'. I may pop in from time to time, to check my pm's, but that will most likely be it. There is an awful lot of fighting going on between the stages...so sad.
Stay strong, keep your chin up and enjoy every moment!
With laughter and love,
PLJ
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Hi everyone,
Just doing my part to keep this thread going.
I'm almost 2.5 years past diagnosis, so I don't come to these boards much anymore, because I'm (mostly) healthy and (mostly) feeling good, so there isn't much to post about! But I very much appreciate this thread; those of us with the rare MC have to stick together! VR, thanks for all of the info you post! I loved that article about how MC responds poorly to chemo but has a great prognosis. My oncologist tried her best to get me to do chemo (after surgery), but I had a super strong gut feeling that it was just WRONG and unnecessary for me... so I went straight to Tamoxifen. And yup, my tumor was VERY ER+ and PR+ (I forget, but something like 90%). So the Tamoxifen makes more sense to me.
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I am so glad that our thread is relatively quiet. And yes, Raili.. That was a great study that should be encouraging to many of us. Likewise, it always comes as a nice surprise when researchers report ANYTHING .... Good or bad about MC breast cancer. It gives me comfort knowing that we aren't being forgotten....
Thoughts and prayers to all our sisters!0 -
I'm 4 days post diagnosis: 2 RT breast masses, 1 @ 11:00 and 1 @ 12:00-doc said they were kissing cousins! Both are mucinous ductal ca, low grade & low grade DCIS. I was informed today on the way home that my ER/PR (+) and Her2 (-), don't have the path report in front of me for % but will add it to my binder. Had my BRCA test drawn today and my MRI is scheduled for next Monday-thanks to my 'busy breasts', aka - dense breasts. I'm 43 y/o w/an 8 y/o daughter so basically I'M FREAKING OUT!!! The 'funny' thing is that I'm a Cancer Registrar so I've been on the other side of the fence until now. Luckily, I have a supportive husband, a dotting mother and wonderful fellow employees. I work in a Cancer Institute and even though I know 'stuff', I don't know crap! I have a sense of humor (right now it goes more than comes). I am fortunate to know my surgeon who was just diagnosed last month with breast cancer, pathologist, radiologist, radiation oncologist, etc. There is tremendous comfort in this but I need the other side. I need to know that I'll be around to see my 8 y/o graduate. I realize there's no crystal ball but I believe that this forum can provide hope. Funny our campaign slogan for building our new Cancer Institute is 'Hope is Home'. I've read some of the posts, so many, and now that I've joined will read more. Of course one that I read, pulmonary embolism-tamoxifen, doesn't help but I'm hoping that's not the norm. The journey begins....................
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Hi Steena 3912 our thread has been quite quiet lately so I have only just logged in 3 days after you have posted, so I am sorry that its a delayed reply. First thing is that its a sad event that you have to join us and 4 days post diagnosis your head would still have been spinning and that's how it is for a while and freaking out is unfortunately normal. I can assure you it will get better but it is a bit of a roller coaster journey for a while and get all the support you can for the ups and downs. Just because you work in the Cancer Register area don't let people over emphasise your strengths and knowledge. This link will surely help you enormously with what goes on in your thinking and straighten out your perception of some of the facts and emotionally we will give you what support we can. I will certainly add you to my prayer list and regularly cover you with prayer. Hope is certainly my home I genuinely specialise in hope and like PLJ I no longer live in "cancerland" and my diagnosis is only 17 months ago. I am up and going with the rest of my life. I guess you will have read many of the studies re Tamoxifen and Pulmonary embolism, while I am no expert in the area I am encouraged that it is not the "norm" and "This evidence that tamoxifen causes VTE does not significantly alter the benefit-risk ratio for tamoxifen when it is used to treat breast cancer. However, prescribers should be aware the risk of VTE is increased if tamoxifen is used with cytotoxic agents." (BCPT study) With Mucinous breast cancer it is highly unlikley that such agents will be part of your treatment plan as our type of cancer does not respond effectively to such treatment. Voracious Reader is the one with all the info at her finger tips but that may help you not to focus on the possibilities of side effects. I know I did latch on to all the negative possibilities initially I think its part of the process of "now one thing has gone wrong what else can happen!"
None of the things I feared actually have happened in fact looking back it was a far easier journey than I anticipated. One of the scriptures that helped be considerably was Matt 6:34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." I surely hung on to this verse. Do remember that FEAR is FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL and at the beginning of this traumatic journey the fears are overwhelming. Bless you and keep us up to date with your results. Ask VR the sticky questions, meanwhile I'll back you in prayer.
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Does anyone have any good suggestions for books to read? I purchased 2 yesterday: Beating Cancer with Nutrition and Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips.
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Stena...You're going to think I'm CRAZY....but I love to read and have never read a cancer book...so I can't recommend a cancer book! HOWEVER....if you love reading...then join us on the Book Lovers thread!!!!! We talk about books....BUT NOTHING WHATSOEVER ABOUT CANCER! You might enjoy it!
Good luck with your active treatment! As you probably know by now...you have great prognostics! Hope you'll be able to find some good books to read while you're busy running to doctor appointments. I guess you can say that the only good thing about a cancer diagnosis is you have plenty of down time waiting in doctors' offices which can turn into plenty of up time for reading!
Good luck!
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Thanks, voraciousreader. I don't think you're crazy, in fact, it might be a great idea! I feel the need to do some reading about cancer. I need those stories of hope and inspiration. I've never been much of a reader but like you said, I may have some extra time coming up! By the way, I think we all have to be a little crazy to get through this! Have a super day!
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I had lots of time to read last year after my lumpectomy on 8/2 and my BMX on 9/8. I didn't find as much time for reading as I had planned after my TE exchange surgery this year on 1/23. Always having a few books "ready to read" was part of my "superbetter" plan to deal with my stress and anxiety during that time. Mostly I read non-cancer related books but here's my list of ones about cancer that made my "keeper" list (no particular order):
Red Sunshine: A Story of Strength and Inspiration from a Doctor Who Survived Stage 3 Breast Cancer by Kimberly Allison M.D.- Actually, this one is my favorite! Check for her posts on this thread under "RedSunshine". Dr. Allison's advice back in November led me to have a second opinion on my pathology slides that changed (or added to) what the original report had indicated. I appreciate so very much the words she posted for us (search for her posts to see the comments). While I don't know if the information would have changed any of my treatment decisions, I know that the decisions would have been easier to make (especially about what kind of surgery to have) had I gotten the second look at the pathology slides back in August.American Cancer Society Complete Guide for Cancer Survivors, 2nd edition - Another favorite as I know one of the authors, Cynthia Thomson, PhD, RD. She is also an expert for breastcancer.org so be sure to check out updated nutrition info on this website too.
Lift by Kelly Corrigan - well known author and lecturer.
A Dietitian's Cancer Story: Information and Inspritation for Recovery and Healting by Diana Dyer, MS, RD - This is an older book so some of the nutrition info is more up-todate in the ACS book listed above but the author's "journey" story helped me. She also has a website that I found useful.
Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, 5th edition - This one was just "too much" for me at first and I didn't even get a copy. I had my sister (who is a nurse) read the parts I needed and tell me about it. Once I knew a little more, I bought the book and referred to it often. It is not a "read-cover-to-cover" book but one to check out the section you need today. Dr. Love has a good website too.
Stand by Her: A Breast Cancer Guide for Men by John W. Anderson - This is one I didn't read but my husband did. I think it was helpful to him but I had to sit him down and explain that whatever the book suggested was intended to give support and perhaps some ideas but was not a "to-do" list or assigments of everything my husband needed to do! I think he thought if he could do everything in the book it would "fix" things.
Happy reading! Having my Kindle in the hospital made having my next book at my fingertips easier too. Good luck to you in the days ahead.
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Golden01 you have a great booklist must get to read several of those I haven't yet read, a Kindle sounds very useful, I haven't graduated to that yet, am having technological phobia I think. Voraciousreader after all the reading you do I am most surprised by your confession of no cancer books on your list. You must do so much research you leave it at that.
Stena3912 the only other book that I found useful to dip into according to what stage I was at & then finding relevant material in the index was "Dear God, they say it's cancer. A comprehensive guide for Woman on the Breast Cancer Journey" Janet Thompson, Howard Books. 2006. Its not the sort of book you would read cover to cover but gives a wide range of different women's experiences. I found the Breast cancer journey Map in the appendix quite useful to have copies with me to keep all of the overview of my treatment and dates handy on 1 sheet. Meanwhile lots of prayers Tricianne
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Ann Surg Oncol. 2012 Mar 27. [Epub ahead of print]
Outcome of Pure Mucinous Breast Carcinoma Compared to Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma: A Population-based Study from China.
Cao AY, He M, Liu ZB, Di GH, Wu J, Lu JS, Liu GY, Shen ZZ, Shao ZM.Source
Breast Cancer Institute, Cancer Hospital/Cancer Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Abstract
PURPOSE:
Pure mucinous breast carcinoma (PMBC) is a rare pathologic finding. Few studies have addressed the biologic features of PMBC and prognostic factors among patients with this disease. We performed a study to compare PMBC and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) by means of a large database to reliably assess the biologic phenotype and clinical behavior of PMBC.
METHODS:
A total of 2,511 patients who met the inclusion criteria were identified from 1999 to 2010; 2,202 patients had pure IDC and 309 had PMBC. Clinical and biologic features, overall survival, and recurrence/metastasis-free survival (RFS) were compared for both groups.
RESULTS:
PMBC had favorable characteristics including smaller size, lower rates of lymph node positivity, lower stage, higher expression of hormone receptors, and less HER2 overexpression. Patients with PMBC had better 10-year RFS (71 %) than patients with IDC (64 %). Multivariate analysis revealed that node status and tumor, node, metastasis system (TNM) stage were statistically significant prognostic factors for survival. RFS curves stratified for node status revealed a highly significant difference between node negative and node positive patients. Additionally, patients with PMBC underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS) more frequently than patients with IDC, and the 5-year overall survival rate of the BCS group was not significantly different from the total mastectomy group.
CONCLUSIONS:
PMBC in Chinese women showed less aggressive behavior and had a better prognosis than IDC, and this favorable outcome was maintained after 10 years. Node status and TNM stage appeared to be the most significant predictors of worse prognosis. BCS should be preferred over mastectomy in the treatment of early-stage PMBC.
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VR - Thank you for keeping us up-to-date! Did the article break out the women with mixed muciounous carcinoma tumors (or "hypercelluar variant" as they call mine!)?
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Wow Voracious Reader you do get around the world with your research studies. We are "rare specimens" all my MC sisters, with favourable outcomes. Praying for you all. Love and blessings Tricianne.
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VR - Is RFS - Recurrence Free Survival? If so, is that the same as the term DFS - Disease Free Survival? If the terms mean the same thing, is the PMBC 10-year RFS in this study lower than has been reported in other studies? I'm remembering PMBC from several studies having 10-year DFS of 91-96%. Didn't get out any papers to check and I am just on my first cup of coffee but want to sort the terms out so I understand the info. I hope you know how much I appreciate all that you share on BCO!
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Golden 01.... RFS is the same as DFS.Both shouldn't be confused with "Overall Survival" which is usually much higher than DFS. Remember, you can get a recurrence and be treated and continue on with your life and eventually die from something else. So "Overall Survival" is an important statistic to measure and that might be the figure that you were thinking of. Likewise, what's missing from this abstract is the average age of the patients. We don't have either of those measurements in this abstract. Nothing mentioned about mixed mucinous either. The important information garnered from this abstract is that, there is a consistent trend from this and other studies that the disease free survival numbers for pure mucinous breast cancer are higher than they are for traditional IDC.If we knew the ages of the patients, we might also have been able to see if the Overall Survival was affected. Unfortunately, we don't have any info from this abstract to tell us.
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VR - Thanks so much RFS and DFS seemed the same to me, thank you for confirming. I learned about OS early on as my oncologist took time to teach me about it when I wasn't understanding all the numbers he was presenting. Sometimes he was quoting OS, sometimes DFS, and sometimes local recurrence numbers, and sometimes distal recurrence figures. Needless to to say it didn't make sense until he explained each term and I understood sometimes he talks about apples and sometimes he talks about oranges. I learned to ask which term he was referring to (he always says but sometimes I just hear the number!) when the numbers seem to vary a lot. Another question, it seems like a number of the studies on mucinous carcinoma have been published in other countries (China, Japan, Korea, that I recall), are there similar studies from the US?
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Golden..if you scroll back through this thread you will see a study from 2008 from Miami that looked at the SEER database and found almost 11,400 PMBC from 1973-2003 in the United States. Again, the conclusion was that it did not affect Overall Survival that much. I think the reason why we are now seeing more studies from Asia is that they are beginning to keep better records so that data can be studied and published....
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