Benign Phyllodes Tumor reoccurance

I'm a 44 yr old woman. I just had 2 benign phyllodes tumors removed from the right breast. One was very large and the other was small. They got enough "margins" on the large one but not enough on the smaller one. My surgeon wants to go back in and get more breast tissue from where the smaller one was. Is this really necessary? What is the percentage of it growing back without removing more breast tissue vs. having this re-excision. I have the surgery already scheduled for next week but I'm feeling a little pressured. Also, my breast is still sore and I don't really want further deformity and tissue loss although it will be very small. Additionally in the other breast I had a biopsy of another lump that was found to be fibrocystic changes and she wanted to remove that too! Is she just surgery happy? That one I decided not to do because it's totally normal to have those. Can I just keep a close watch on everything and not do this surgery yet since the lumps are already out and are benign? I have a tendency to grow things like uteran fibroids and benign things of that nature. I just had a hysterectomy in October. So I know I have hormonal issues.





This discussion is related to Phyllodes tumor - why remove?.

[japdip]

As a rule the entire tumor is excised as well as some reasonable margin of breast tissue. Since the tumors were benign the decision to remove more tissue is up for discussion. If the entire tumor was removed then recurrance is less likely than if some tumor remained. Some Fibrocystic changes are also removed to prevent the need for close observation ... much the same as with the Phyllodes tumors. You might consider a second opinion if you are as uncomfortable as you seem to be with your Surgeon's recommendations.   Regards ....

[lbells]

Thanks for the info. Are you a doctor? What are the percentages for the tumor to reoccur with the magins excised vs no extra tissue excision? In one of the comments on this blog someone mentioned that the reoccurance is 20% without excision of the tissue. Is that true?

[japdip]

Percentages are so relative I wouldn't care to speculate .... each individual case is so different from others I feel that percentages are hard to apply.  I do know that recurrance would be much less likely if adequate margins were obtained.  Multiple tumors are more likely to recur than when you have a single tumor.     Regards .....

[sharon680]

A related discussion, Phyllodes tumor breast was started.