borderlin ovarian cancer serous

[Deb2009]

Hi,

I was recently diagnosed with borderline ovarian cancer.  I'm 48 yrs. old.  The cancer was found during a procedure to remove my right overy for cysts, d&c and ablasion(sp?).  Once in my gyn discovered a mass about 2.5 cm with signs of seeding near the larger mass.  He immediately sent tissue to pathologist came back borderline ovc serous.  He contacted gyn ongologist who told him to leave all alone and close me up.  He continued to lookat other areas seeing evidence on back side of uterus,pelvic floor and possibly left ovary.  I'm waiting to get in to the gyn onc for total hyst possible removal of appendix and who knows what else.  I want to add the frozen tissue confirmed the first diagnosis.  My gyn says liver,diaphram,and other areas of interest appear to be ok. But adds only surgery and final pathology will confirm this.

I'm lucky my Dr. is a dot your i cross your t kind of fellow.  I went in for my yearly pap that I had managed to put off for 2 yrs. Not smart.  My only compaint was irregular periods that I thought were normal for my age.  He decieded to do ultrasound in office it showed uterine lining was alittle thicker than he liked and a cyst on my right ovary.  He then deceided to do a uterine lining biopsy.  It came back with signs of polups but benign.  He then decieded to do a sonohyst.  Thats how we arrived at the need for surgery.  Still no concern just standard stuff.  The mass was neatly tucked up behind the ovary and the huge cyst the ovary had .  Quite a suprise to everyone.  

My concern and question is my Dr. used the term metastasized along with seeding and nodules.  Being in a bit of shock I did not think to ask if with all of those things going on is it possible I could be in stage 2 or more?  or can these things happen in stage1? Can't seem to find this info online anywhere.

Thank you and God Bless


This discussion is related to Seromucinous Epithelial Tumor of Low Malignant Potential.

[melenzbee83]

Hi,
I am sorry about your diagnosis but please I am happy for you to contact me anytime you need. I was diagnosed with LMP borderline serous tumour with non invasive implants 3 years ago. I have more information on my profile page, feel free to look at it.  Unfortunately your seeding and areas sounds exactly the same as mine was and mine was stage 3, stage 1 means everything is contains in the ovary, stage two is ovary and has spread into utuerus, stage 3 into your abdominal cavity. But the good news is with borderline (provided your implants are NONinvasive which is important you find out) stages 2-4 are grouped and treated together.

Here are Australian websites on ovarian cancer
http://www.ovariancancerprogram.org.au/
http://www.ovariancancer.net.au/

Here is an article on borderline tumours (it is one article but has seperate sections it s called borderline ovarian cancer and is by Andrew E Green)
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/258970-overview
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/258970-diagnosis
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/258970-treatment
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/258970-followup

My advice would be search for more articles, thats what i did and prepared myself for my next appointment with my gyno-oncologist and had lots of questions ready. Please ask if they tested the histology as it will indicate if your type is more likely to become invaisve or not.

Best of luck.

Mel x

[yrrek]

I think that you will need to have your hysterectomy/debulking surgery to determine what stage you will be, you probably know what the different stages are and what they mean, but ultimately they have to do the surgery to rule out that it was contained only to the ovaries, which would make it a stage one.  When are you having surgery.  I am sorry that you are now having to deal with this, but hopefully they have found it early.  You will probably have a total hysterectomy with appendix, lymph glands in the groin and omentum (fatty tissue in the abdomen) removed as well as any obvious cancer.  Good luck and and let us know how you are doing.
Kerry

[Deb2009]

Thank you for reaching out to me.  As you know it is a time filled with alot of unknowns and uncertainties.  Mel x your response does not suprise me I did not feel I would be in stage 1. One can always hope and pray though.  It gives me great hope that you are here to give me support and information.

Kerry thank you for your info.  I have found over the last few days as this is beginging to sink in that talking with people who do not have an emotional intrest gives me a bit of calm and clears my head to process it all.

Thank you both again and I will keep in touch.  I found out a bit ago my info has reached the gyn oncologist desk so hopefully I will be scheduled with him soon for my initial consutation to get things rolling.

I have a great suppot system and strong faith and now a new outlet to say the things or ask the questions your family is not prepared to hear yet.

God bless,
Deb2009

[melenzbee83]

Hi Deb,
Def stay positive it may just be stage 1. Your doctors seem onto it and the only reason mine was found so late was because doctors ignored me for two years prior to diagnosis. I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying for you. Hope the documents helped if you had time to read them. Please keep us updated.
Good luck with your gyno oncologist.

Mel xo

[marlene321]

Hi,
I was recently diagnosed with LMP ovarian cancer, stage III.  My surgeon was confident that he removed all of the tumor, and the implants, and the implants were non-invasive.  He explained though, that follow-up treatment options are controversial, since there is not enough research on it.  He seemed to be leaning toward recommending chemo, even though we don't know if it really has much benefit.  I saw another specialist who leaned toward not recommending chemo, because it might not have any benefit.  And I've been told that of all gyn-oncologists, 50% would say do chemo, and 50% would say don't.  Does anyone out there have experience with this, one way or the other?  It's such a difficult decision to make.  I did have my uterus, cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and omentum removed.  All the lymph nodes they tested were negative, and there were a few implants in my abdomen, but all were non-invasive.  Please let me know if you have any opinion/experience with either chemo, or a surveillance approach.
Thanks,
Marlene

[melenzbee83]

Hi,
If you look at my profile my comlete journey is there. My oncologist who specialises in ovarian cancer would say no to chemo i would also say no to chemo, all it would do is damage your other healthy organs and if you ever have to have it i.e. if it turns invasive it would be less effective. How have i reached my conclusion- through 4 years of research while mine was borderline- sadly stage 3 borderline with implants even though non invasive has a higher chance of turning invasive one day so stay on top of it, dont stress i would just have bloods done every 8-12 weeks. please email if you need any help.
Mel

[marlene321]

Thanks so much for your comments!  I just read your profile and realized you have been going through chemo, and I will pray for you.  It's great that you have such a positive attitude, and I know you will recover completely.  I too was stage 3, with non-invasive implants, and my surgeon (a gyn-oncologist) told me chemo was controversial and recommended a second opinion.  I went to the University of Michigan (we live just 2 hours north of there), where they have 5 gyn-oncologists, and do lots of research.  They also said they did not recommend chemo for this type.  So I will be going for check-ups every 3 months, and will go from there.
Thanks again, and I'll email you if I have any more questions.  Please also email me if you ever want to.
Marlene

[gls2824]

Hi Marlene.  I also had a borderline tumor (atypical proliferating serous tumor or APST) staged 1C.  No chemo recommended.

Do you know what type of borderline tumor you had?  That makes a big difference in the way it's treated.  If you go to the Johns Hopkins site, or to the discussion on Medhelp "Calling all Borderline Ladies" you will see a description of the different types of borderline tumors and can read about other ladies on this forum who have been dealing with this.

Good luck!  Sounds like you're going to be fine.

[marlene321]

Hi again,
The pathology report says "papillary serous borderline tumor with low malignant potential."  The implants were non-invasive, but some were desmoplastic.  Lymph nodes were all unaffected.  Do you know the specific website for the John Hopkins site you suggested?  I tried to find it but haven't had much luck.  I'll keep looking.  Thanks for your suggestions!
Marlene

[gls2824]

Hi Marlene.  Go to www.ovariancancer.jhmi.edu/typsca.cfm.  In the drop down menu (Go to....) it will list all the types of cancer including the types of borderline.

[gls2824]

Sorry, one more thing - the MPSC or micropaillary serous tumor -- is listed under epithelial cancer.  The other borderlines are listed under Borderline.  I'm not certain which one you had.

[marlene321]

Thanks again for your help!  
Marlene