“L” stands for lobular, while “D” stands for ductal, which denote the tissue and type of cell that has mutated into cancer. One does not turn into the other. One *could* have both types, as in my case. The disease process, left untreated, would parallel each other, not rely on each other.

“In situ” (the ‘IS’ in DCIS and LCIS) means they have not broken off, shedding into surrounding tissue where they can set up shop and really start populating and extending themselves. In this state, lumpectomy is the usual route to resolution, as there is no evidence elsewhere, even in the closest proximal tissue. Evidence is gathered by scan. And yes, some diagnosis of in situ presentations may have actually been ‘invasive’ (or infiltrating) but indetectable bay the scans limited ability to perceive- there has to be millions of cells present for scans to even detect the smallest abnormality. Having said that, mostly we are staged appropriately. There are cases of appropriately staged DCIS or LCIS whose lumpectomy May have left some residual cells, and, sometimes, those can eventually become invasive.

So. Invasive or infiltrating is when the horses have definitely gotten out of the barn. And the best evidence of that is a sentinel node biopsy, plus a looksee at the tissue surrounding a lumpectomy post op to see if there are cells shed into the surrounding blood vessels. Really, bloodvessels and the lymph channels are the two superhighways for cancer to spread. If their is no evidence in these, your bucking horses have *not * gotten out of the gate, and, provided what you are dealing with is small, you will be given in situ status and treated accordingly.

I hope this helps.

((Hug))

@A MyBCTeam Member, They do sometimes indicate tamoxafin for post meno gals, but it is not terribly common. Let your med onco know you are aware that it is sometimes applied, and ask for her to qualify her decision to use or not use in your specific case if that’s her recommendation.

((Hug))

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A MyBCTea...

@A MyBCTeam Member: I started tamoxifen right after i finished chemo. After that I had a lymph node dissection and then radiation.

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A MyBCTea...

I'm post memo and my Onc just changed me from Arimidex to Tomoxifen and Afinitor. After seeing this I'm wondering why.

I just started my 3rd week of radiation too. Are you doing the “boosts” at the end? Do you start taking the estrogen stopping drugs after radiation? Can’t find much info on the 3 most prescribed drugs( I know their names). Anyone know why they don’t give Tamoxifen to post menopausal women?
Thank you🌻