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Jason - 19 Mar 2005 03:45 GMT

I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
brast cancer called something like "tubular cancererum". I asked
her to spell it out but she was merely repeating what her daughter
told her and was therefore not sure how to spell it or how to pronouce
it. Do you have any idea on what type of breast cancer she might
have or what the words mentioned above mean?
I wish that her doctor had explained it in a way that my niece and
my sister would have understood instead of medical terms that can't
be found in regular dictionaries. Thanks in advance.

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Jeff - 19 Mar 2005 04:35 GMT

> I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
> daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> my sister would have understood instead of medical terms that can't
> be found in regular dictionaries. Thanks in advance.

This is quite a shock. I hope everything works out ok.

The type of cancer is probably tubular carcinoma.

http://imaginis.com/breasthealth/breast_cancer.asp Scroll down to the less
common forms of breast cancer section (about 2/3 of the way down) or go here
(I think this is the same thing, I am not 100% sure:
http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=4144).

When someone is diagnosed with an illness like this, it is nearly impossible
for the get all the info across in one meeting with the patient.
Unfortunately, you are getting info third hand, so the details tend to get
lost.

I am certain that these are not the only questions you have.

You can read more about breast cancer here: http://www.oncolink.upenn.edu/.
Click on Type of cancer and find breast cancer.

You can also find a lot of other info by googling breast cancer.

And please bring your questions here. There is also a news group
alt.support.cancer.breast that you might find helpful, as well.

Good luck.

Jeff

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Jason - 19 Mar 2005 21:53 GMT

Jeff,
Thanks so much. I'll download the reports and send them to my sister. I
have already mailed her two reports that I downloaded related to breast
cancer--one from Medline Plus and the other one from the American Cancer
Society. I'll mail the other ones (that you mentioned) to my sister later
today. She lives 2000 miles from me and is really worried about her only
daughter. The doctor was speaking a language making use of words that
neither of them could understand. The reports should help them.
Thanks again,
Jason

> > I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
> > daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
>
> Jeff

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Jason - 19 Mar 2005 22:42 GMT

> > I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
> > daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
>
> Jeff

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Sbharris[atsign]ix.netcom.com - 20 Mar 2005 01:36 GMT

Jeff,
I downloaded the reports and will send them to my sister ASAP. Thanks
so
much. I read the information related to tubular carcinomas. I know that

"ductal carcinoma" begins in the milk ducts of the breast. Do you know
whether or not tubular cancinomas also begin in the milk ducts or could

they occur anywhere in the breast? I was under the impression that
"tubular" meant "tubes". However, it's possible that the cancer cells
are
shaped like tubes.

COMMENT:

Tubular carcinoma is just a ductal carcinoma that hasn't got going yet,
and is only one-cell thick, lining the ducts. So the prognosis is even
better. These are epithelial cells lining the milk ducts (which are
tubes, you see), that have become cancerous. When they section them,
they look to see what fraction of the cells are next to the duct lumen.
If it's more than 70% (meaning 70% of the cancer cells are actually
lining the duct, 1-cell deep), and the cells are not too screwly
looking, you get the good diagnosis of tubular carcinoma. As the
fraction of cells which are more than 2 cells "deep" from a duct goes
up over 30%, then you have ductal carcinoma. But this still hasn't
pentrated the smooth muscle of the ductal wall, and prognosis is a
little poorer, but still VERY good. All this is very much like the
various grades of cervical cancer, and looks a lot like them. This
tubular stuff is like grade I cervical cancer "in situ". Anyway, tell
everybody in your family to calm down. If you gotta have breast cancer,
this is what you want to have.

SBH

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PF Riley - 19 Mar 2005 20:00 GMT

>I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
>daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>my sister would have understood instead of medical terms that can't
>be found in regular dictionaries. Thanks in advance.

Another friendly reminder that you should never believe what a patient
tells you his doctor said.

PF

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Jason - 19 Mar 2005 21:53 GMT

> >I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
> >daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> PF

PF,
That's usually good advice and would apply to about 95 percent of the
cases. However, in this case--it's a family member (sister) that was
crying and was scard that her only daughter might die. She lives 2000
miles from me and it's impossible for me to communicate with her doctor. I
sent her two print outs related to breast cancer that I downloaded --one
from Medline Plus and the other one from the American Cancer Society.

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PF Riley - 20 Mar 2005 17:59 GMT

>> >I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
>> >daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>crying and was scard that her only daughter might die. She lives 2000
>miles from me and it's impossible for me to communicate with her doctor.

That's exactly my point. I wasn't implying that you shouldn't believe
she has breast cancer, but what you should take with a grain of salt
is the details, since they almost always get mixed up when (1) the
person is not familiar with medical terminology, and (2) the person is
otherwise distracted by the news (scared, shocked, etc.).

PF

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Jason - 20 Mar 2005 18:24 GMT

> >> >I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
> >> >daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
>
> PF

PF,
Great point. In this case--I was trying to help her make sense out what
the doctor told her and her daughter. They did not want to admit to the
doctor that they did not understand the medical terminology. I downloaded
4 seperate reports related to breast cancer and mailed the reports to her
yesterday. Some of the words such as "tubular carcinoma" were defined. I
called her and read to her the section related to tubular carcinoma. I
only wish that she had asked her doctor to define the terms. I'm sure lots
of other people have this same problem--they don't ask doctors to explain
medical terminology.

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tech27 - 20 Mar 2005 09:55 GMT

>>I just received a phone call from my sister. She told me that her
>>daughter (my niece) was told by her doctor that she had a type of
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> PF

I'm confused. I thought you said she had "Brast Cancer:?

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