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horse2310
horse2310 Member Posts: 18

So, in 2019 i was diagnosed with IDC stage 1 grade 1 1cm...lumpectomy, radiation arimidex....

in 2008 I had a mammogram that showed calcifications...I had a biopsy....pathology said targeted calcifications, lesion is suspicious for dcis...then final diagnosis said FEA with asscociated calcs...with a note that said FAE borders on ADH, an excision should be considered to fully evaluate...

there was also an addendum that said additional level sections were obtained and demonstrate the atypia to a better advantage and a diagnosis of ADH bordering on low grade dcis is favored...an excision is recommended....

I had the excision and the final pathology said focal flat epithelial atypia....

my question is this....how could they think it could have been dcis and it turn out to be just FEA?...i did not take tamoxifen after this ...could they have missed this? because 10 years later It turned out that i had small amt of dcis with my IDC....im worried that I could have had more disease in me the whole time between both diagnosis..

thanks

Comments

  • salamandra
    salamandra Member Posts: 732
    edited April 2023

    Basically all IDC comes with DCIS riding along - it's often not mentioned because it's so typical and the cancer is treated/graded/staged according to the IDC. If the reason you are concerned is the presence of DCIS, I wouldn't be. It's much more likely it's part of your recent diagnosis.

    I'm no expert, but it seems to me that if you made it ten years and then ended up with a localized breast cancer (as opposed to a metastatic cancer), it seems overwhelmingly likely that the docs were right the first time around that they got everything, and the 2018 stuff was actually new.

  • maggie15
    maggie15 Member Posts: 817
    edited April 2023

    FEA is benign and ADH is a high-risk lesion but not malignant. An excisional biopsy is usually done as a preventative measure for ADH. However, the tissue environment in which FEA, ADH, radial scars and other atypical lesions form is also the type of tissue environment in which malignancies grow.

    The FEA was probably removed the first time but over the next 10 years the IDC/DCIS developed in that cancer favorable environment. That would make the 2018 tumor new, so it probably was not missed in 2008.

  • horse2310
    horse2310 Member Posts: 18
    edited April 2023

    Maggie15.. thank you so much for that response.. that makes complete sense.. I was just paranoid that they could have left some DCIS behind which could have turned invasive and went elsewhere in my body between then and 2019...

    Thanks again

  • horse2310
    horse2310 Member Posts: 18
    edited April 2023

    Thankyou Salamandra