A girl that I work with had a breast biopsy done last week. She found a large mass and had discharge of the nipple also. So the results came back it was positive. So she said her surgeron wants to go in a take nodules out and then send her for radiation treatment. Her grandma and her two sisters both had it. Now my question is wouldn't you think they would take the whole breast off? They did a ultra sound and it didn't pick anything up nor did her mammogram.

The Dr. most likely feels that a mastectomy is not warranted, and that it can be safely avoided. She would most likely receive radiation either way. If she is concerned about the course of treatment, she should take the results to another oncologist for a second opinion, which is what I would do in the same situation.

Under most circumstances a woman has two choices for treating the breast with cancer in it: one is to remove the breast, the other is to remove the cancer and give radiation treatments to the remaining breast tissue. It is NOT true that she would get radiation in either case. When the tumor falls into certain categories, then the choice between the two options is essentially equal and the woman must decide with which she feels most comfortable. In the case of your friend, it sounds like a strong possibility that she carries a breast cancer gene, and she should consider being tested for it: if she does indeed carry it, then consideration must be given to having BOTH breasts removed. That is a tough choice to make, but women who have the gene have a very high chance of cancer eventually developing in both breasts. Unfortunately, at this point the only way to deal with it is either to have the breasts removed, or to continue with very careful surveillance. If she would not consider bilateral mastectomy, there may not be much point in getting tested.

Another issue is that if it's true that mammogram showed nothing, (which may mean she had lobular cancer, which also is more likely to be bilateral) then surveillance is more difficult. The bottom line in any situation is the person must be comfortable with the advice she's getting, and if she is leaning toward mastectomy then she should say so. Each situation is unique, and hers is complicated by such a strong family history. Advice online is extremely limited in value, whether coming from someone who has treated thousands of breast cancer cases, like me, or someone who doesn't really know about it, like the one above. In either case, opinions expressed without knowing all the details or the person involved, are fairly meaningless as applied to specific cases: the best you can get is general info

Thanks so much for the info on this I appreciate all you said. I felt if it were me and with the family history I would also go for the removal of both breasts, tho, her doctor never even mentioned this idea to her, so we just wanted to let her know she has that option.

here is some general info
link to several sites

Thanks LVLF those are some great sites. I will pass them on.

We've had a lot of cancer in our family, the latest is my mom. There is a tumor behind her lung, she just had the biopsy today, we should get the results Monday, the DR. is fairly certain the it's malignant, but the test will tell for sure. I know how overwhelming the whole process is, and I wish your friend all the best and peace of mind.

Thank-you and I feel the same way for your mom. Hopefully all will go well with her. I wish you the best.

Thank you, it means a lot to me.

The girl I had told you about is going in on the 29 of this month to have some tissue taken out to have it checked. Then on for radiation, I would guess if all is ok with this. Thanks