Radiation or not

I commented an a different thread on this site about AI treatment. My decision and final treatment choice. 😘

I also had DCIS, mine was stage 0 and I had lumpectomy. They had clear margins but one margin was only 1 mm and they want at least 2. They want me to do radiation and hormone therapy but I am only going to fo radiation, no hormone therapy. Im nervous because it is my left breast and concerned about heart and lungs but felt better after talking to radiolohical oncologist. Looking forward to being done and cured!! Just feel it is important to make your own decisions!

@gerarda
It’s interesting to me that they would say it would be reasonable to skip radiation…. did they get clear margins after your Lumpectomy and did your Pathology report show how far your margins were?

After my lumpectomy I had 3 margins that were less than 1mm, so I had to have a
re-excision. After that I was strongly recommended to do both radiation and Tamoxifen.

Can you ask your Rad Onc how they determine if radiation is definitely needed or not?

At age 70, I was diagnosed with Stage 1, ER+ and PR + IDC in my right breast. I had a lumpectomy and a second surgery to clear the margins. On the advice of my radiation oncologist, I opted to have 16 rounds of radiation which I tolerated very well. After 1 month at half dose and 1 1/2 months at full dose, I could no longer tolerate anastrozole due to MANY side effects which caused severe depression and no quality of life. My former oncologist did not acknowledge any of my side effects as being related to the medicine. However, they all resolved some time after stopping the medicine.
We all need to make individual decisions based on our stage of cancer, chance of recurrence, age, bone density and overall health, in addition to other factors. Some people can take (AI) aromatase inhibitors with very few side effects and others can’t. It’s important to keep in mind that when deciding whether or not to have radiation, we do not know, if our bodies will be able to tolerate the anti estrogen medicine for 5 or more years.
I am glad that I opted to have radiation. Had I decided against it, I would not have given myself the chance of reducing the possibility of recurrence that radiation may provide. I am now 73 1/2 and doing well, so far.
I wish all of you best of luck in the often difficult decisions we have to make regarding our treatment. 💕

Wow ! That is exactly my situation and I am so afraid of radiation because of left side as well . I am thinking about proton therapy but one doctor said it would be not beneficial to me. Still with stage 0 after lumpectomy they suggest 4 weeks of radiation . My margins were 2mm accept posterior less then 1mm. I was told radiation is needed or another lumpectomy . But now no Savy scout , no marker and doctors comment that he would need to remove much more all around ( it's like playing in the dark he said ). That didn't sound good and lost some confidence in my surgeon . Trying to get another opinion from oncology radiologist. . All the best to you ! ❤️🙏🏻

Best to you too. I am having radiation-21 total 16 will be full breast and 5 targeted specifically to area where it was 1 mm. I am very nervous but feel no alternative since I will not due hormone therapy. I was also tld proton therapy would not be alternative. Looking at it positively, I'm thinking 21 and done!

My radiologist suggested 4 weeks of radiation with last 5 days targeting the area with the smaller margin . I am having hard time to get the info if my tumor was very deep in the breast or not . I think that would put me on ease knowing how far was it from the chest wall . Wishing you the best !!!
Did your doctor suggested medication or said radiation is enough ?

They wanted me to do hormone therapy but I will not do it!!

My docs said my breast cancer was small and not in lymph nodes at 12:30 left breast 6cm from nipple. 11mm. All my testing was low. Oncologist said 8% chance of coming back without radiation and 5 year hormone blocker. 4% chance of coming back with radiation and blocker. So approximately 90% chance cancer not coming back. Also, my cancer did not show up with mamo every year and ultrasound. I felt a lump and they did mammo and could not see it. I had to put my finger on lump and have ultrasound again. Then they saw it. It showed up with mri and dye.

@kstar077, @ema1, @enaska1 - Hello ladies! I thought I would chime in with my experience.

I had DCIS; Right Breast; Grade 2; HR/HP positive, >90. I had surgery and Radiation, but I am not taking Aromatase Inhibitors because of their side effects. The decisions we are faced with are daunting and cause a lot of anxiety, don't they? I was initially totally against doing any radiation. But both my radiation oncologist and my family were asking me to reconsider. It was psychologically very challenging!

That's when I decided to rely upon the numbers: I set a maximum of 15-20% reoccurrence. In other words, if tests would indicate that my risk WITHOUT radiation was 15 to 20% for reoccurrence, I would do radiation.

As it turned out, my margins were not clear. Additionally, the test "PreludeDX" indicated a pretty significant recurrence without radiation (15%). I did do radiations because my risk for reoccurrence was at least 15%. In case you don't know about "PreludeDX":

"DCISionRT is a risk assessment test for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The test was developed by PreludeDx and built on research that began with funding from the National Cancer Institute to better understand the biology of DCIS. DCISionRT assesses a patient’s individual biology along with other risk factors to provide a personalized assessment that predicts the risk of your DCIS coming back (recurring) over the next 10 years. The test calculates a personalized recurrence score and identifies your risk as low or elevated. DCISionRT provides information that may help you and your physician make a more informed treatment decision. "

Based on the results shown by PreludeDX, my oncologists recommended Radiation and Aromatase Inhibitors. I decided to get the radiation; however, I chose not to take AIs.

I did radiation belly-down. This is a way to decrease potential radiation damage to tissue and organs behind the breasts, such as the lungs and heart, if on the left side.

HUGS to all!

D.