How to read a pathology report?

[millieb]

I am 39. I have been diagnosed with stage 2, Invasive ductal carcinma. Diagnosis:1 x 1 x 0.5 cm tumor size; biospy margin benign; grade 2 (histologic grade 3, nuclear grade 2, mitotic grade 1); necrosis focally present; lymphovascular space invasion present; lymphoplasmacytic response mild; skin involvement absent; in-situ compenent none; Estrogen and Progesterone receptors positive;  3 axillary nodes positive of 20 - one of these is micrometastasis. The largest metastasis is 0.3 cm. One of the nodules examined shows only tumor in the fat. Report suggests it migh represent extranodal mestastasis or node completely replace and destroyed by the tumor. The TNM was T1b, N1, Mx. I am having an abdominal ultrasound and a bone scan. What does this all mean? Thanks for your help.

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear millieb:  It means that you have node positive breast cancer.  This means that chemotherapy will be recommended for certain.  That it is estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor positive is a good prognostic indicator.  You do not mention HER 2 neu status.  This would be another piece of useful information.  Given the information you have provided, you have a good prognosis.

[jennkay]

Hello My sister has breast cancer , she has had chemo and radiation treatments and also a bilateral surgery--double mastectomy-- Im sorry for being a bit off with the wording of things but I do not know the medical terms for all of this . She had a surgery which involved taking stomach tissue for a blood supply to the breast area as well as getting a mastectomy . My question is --- she has had a stroke and this occured just before her surgery . I have learned just as of tonight that her doctor said that Tamoxifin could possibly  have caused the stroke --- At this time my sister is looking very well ---as she  has been very positive through everything--- in all honesty I am very worried -- because she has been getting swelling in her hand and a bit of cramping in her hip area . If there is anyone that can give me some information about her situation or there own similiar situation --I would be happy to hear from you .My sister is 40 years old --She was diagnosed with Cancer when she was 38 Thankyou so much and hope to hear from someone