hi, i'm 46 and was diagnosed with in-situ and invasive lobular cancer in my right breast in november (multi-centric and multi-focal, grade 3, ki67 23%, er/pr+ / her2-). i've had neo-adjuvant chemo, a skin sparing mastectomy and am in my second week of radio therapy. pathology from my mastectomy showed that i responded really well to chemo and i am considered node negative. i say 'considered' as the biopsies of two sentinel nodes showed 10 single tumour cells in and around one node, which is deemed as constituting node negative. however, as this is a post-chemo result, node involvement pre-chemo is unknown although MRIs didn't indicate any involvement, and pathology didn't show any scarring in the nodes to indicate that cancer cell within them had been blasted by chemo. i've been wondering (and worrying!) about additional scans to check if the cancer is present in other parts of my body... neither my breast surgeon or medical oncologic advise that i need them (and caution against 'unnecessary' scanning). but read about other women with a similar diagnosis (or sometimes lower grade/staging) who have been referred for body and/or bone scans.i appreciate that the diagnoses, experiences and treatment paths of others differ greatly, but those ten single cells are playing on my mind! :/so i was wondering what the experience/thoughts of others may in regard to body and bone scans.thank you! lvlw xxxps - i have an other question about mammogram MRIs that i will post separately, but will again include my diagnoses blurb - apologies for repetition! :blush:

I am mystified by the variety of attitudes there are to MRIs etc, for checking for the presence of a cancer recurrence. Some doctors seem to have no issue with signing off on them whereas others are highly resistant.My BS said my cancer can reoccur locally, in my skin, my armpit, my scars, in the fold of flesh beneath my foobs and in my chest wall. How will he monitor? By regular check-ups, visual and manual examination. But you can't see or feel tiny cancers, nor ones in the chest wall. My original tumour was so deep no one could feel it. Would it not be simpler and safer to have an annual MRI scan? Is it a cost issue? Machine availability?I understand that MRIs pick up many 'things' that can lead to tremendous anxiety, that they can send you deep down rabbit holes of investigation. However if you've already had cancer, your anxiety is pretty bloody high anyway. Why do some doctors understand and accommodate this while others discourage or refuse?It all seems very odd to me.

I was having my yearly mammograms and doing everything I was told after my first diagnosis then I got a really sore leg, I thought I had pulled a muscle in my leg at the gym but ir didn't get better so after almost 3 months of pain killers that did nothing for the pain and xrays that found nothing even though the doctor knew I had had cancer, they finally got around to a bone scan, well the tumour they found was so big it had almost eaten all the way through my bone and had to go into hospital immediately to have a pin put in my leg to stop it from fracturing as wel as multiple other tumours, I am positive it would have been found much sooner if I had been having even bi annual bone and ct scans.I wish now that I had insisted maybe it wouldn't have been as wide spread as it is now.

Bone scan all clear so I’m happy about that.

When my sister had breast cancer some 20 odd years ago she had 6 monthly scans...bone and cat scans for 5 years.3 months after all clear for 5 she developed rib pain and was found to have mets.Did the routine scans find the cancer ? Nope, Not until she felt pain.Her journey made me surprised to have no follow up scans. However her journey also helped me understand why.Since my diagnosis and completion of treatment I have required scans. One due to back pain, which we all felt was my arthritis but my Dr thought it best to check. The other time was after what felt like period pain (menopause was 3 years ago). I was given an abdo CT which was all clear. Both ourselves and our Drs are vigilant after diagnosis so you will probably have some scans over the next few years...just to exclude worries and pain issues of unknown cause. And hopefully like me...they'll just be natural aging and the odd mild gastro bout. Kath x

I knew I was node positive from the start, (mine tumour was invasive ductal, not lobular) so I had a multitude of staging scans and tests before starting chemo. Although my surgeon and oncologist both said the same thing to me about not having routine scans. However, my surgeon has quite happily sent me off for a bone scan and or CT based on symptoms that I've told her about, at each of my 3 visits since finishing active treatment. So far so good. Huge congratulations on having a good response to chemo, though. That's fantastic

Body and bone scans | BCNA Online Network

27 Replies

kmakm
Member
7 years ago
@JJ70 Just posted here about it!

I am in two minds. I accept my BS's caution about MRIs etc, and part of me wants to forget all about it and sail on regardless. But the other part of me wants the reassurance of an annual scan or somesuch. I don't want unecessary radiation, but what if there's nasty little suckers growing again? Wouldn't it be better to get on top of it early??

I go backwards and forwards about it.
kmakm
Member
7 years ago
@"Kiwi Angel" How did you come to have a bone scan? Did you ask your doctor or was it suggested to you?
kmakm
Member
7 years ago
I am mystified by the variety of attitudes there are to MRIs etc, for checking for the presence of a cancer recurrence. Some doctors seem to have no issue with signing off on them whereas others are highly resistant.

My BS said my cancer can reoccur locally, in my skin, my armpit, my scars, in the fold of flesh beneath my foobs and in my chest wall. How will he monitor? By regular check-ups, visual and manual examination. But you can't see or feel tiny cancers, nor ones in the chest wall. My original tumour was so deep no one could feel it. Would it not be simpler and safer to have an annual MRI scan? Is it a cost issue? Machine availability?

I understand that MRIs pick up many 'things' that can lead to tremendous anxiety, that they can send you deep down rabbit holes of investigation. However if you've already had cancer, your anxiety is pretty bloody high anyway. Why do some doctors understand and accommodate this while others discourage or refuse?

It all seems very odd to me.
Lvlw
Member
7 years ago
thank you @lrb_03 !

thanks for sharing. similarly, i think my surgeon will send me for the scans if i request them, so i'm going to ask for a referral.

great to hear that all's been good with your scans! xx
Lvlw
Member
7 years ago
@"Kiwi Angel"
congrats on your all clear results! thank you for sharing. i feel much like you do, in that i'll be wanting tests going forward as part of my monitoring and feel its worth being thorough now. good luck with the results for your bone scan. hope you're recovering well from your surgeries and lymph removal xx
lrb_03
Member
7 years ago
I knew I was node positive from the start, (mine tumour was invasive ductal, not lobular) so I had a multitude of staging scans and tests before starting chemo. Although my surgeon and oncologist both said the same thing to me about not having routine scans. However, my surgeon has quite happily sent me off for a bone scan and or CT based on symptoms that I've told her about, at each of my 3 visits since finishing active treatment. So far so good.
Huge congratulations on having a good response to chemo, though. That's fantastic
Kiwi_Angel
Member
7 years ago
@Lvlw. This year I was diagnosed and had 3 surgeries ending with a right sided mastectomy with auxiliary lymph node removal. All cancer gone, CT scan and nodes all clear but I just went for a bone scan today just to be thorough. I’ll be wanting to do all sorts of tests for the rest of my life to check.

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Body and bone scans

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