Time between radiation & follow-up mammogram

[royallgal]

I had breast conservation surgery back in mid-February to remove a tumor (invasive ducatla carcinoma) in my left breat.   Six weeks later I had 8 weeks of radiation...I was initially scheduled to have a follow-up mammogram the first of August, and now my oncologist has rescheduled it for the first of November.

What concerns me is when I went for a doctor's visit to my primary-care physician he told me he'd received a report from my onocologist that I was in remission!  I'm not sure how that's possible to know unless one has had an ultrasound or another mammogram.  I haven't had any tests done since my surgery or radiation..how can a doctor know whether the cancer is all gone? Could you please advise me on this?

[japdip]

If you are "NED"; no evidence of disease you could be considered in remission.

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  If you have an early stage breast cancer confined to the breast alone with no involvement of distant organs, surgically removing the primary tumor will leave no obvious trace of disease.  The effectiveness of any post-surgery treatment (called "adjuvant" treatment) like radiotherapy cannot be immediately assessed because there's nothing to observe. Unless new lesions are seen on repeat mammogram, in which case, there is clearly a failure of treatment.  Adjuvant treatment can only be deemed effective if the cancer does not recur.  This means that the patient has to be observed for a number of years (e.g. 10 years) for any sign of cancer recurrence. So its still too early to say if you are truly in remission, particularly since no repeat ultrasound or mammogram has been done yet.