Breast Cancer with Liver Metastases

[Roch]

My mother,49 years old,1st mastectomy 1998 & 2nd in 2003.In March 2003 Liver Metastases.Lately backaches,  scans were asked to be done,cancer has reached spine.Just completed a course of Oral Chemo (Xeloda).Today she starts with Radiation Therapy.MRI SCAN of lumber spine done using STIR, T1W and T2W sequences in various planes.Altered signal intensity lesion appears hypointense on T1W sequences & hyperintense on stir sequences is seen in all vertebral bodies from D7 to L5 except D9and D2 vertebra.The pedicle of D7,L3, L4 & L5vertebra are involved.Posterior bony components of various vertebrate are also involved.No evidence of sclerosis or periosteal new bone formation is seen.The lesion is not involving the intervertebral discs.Multiple hyperintense lesions are seen in liver parenchyma on coronal stir squence secondaries.Impression: Soft tissue intensity destructive lesion in various vertebral bodies with involvement of pedicles and posterior bony components as described is suggestive of secondaries. Ultrasound Abdomen-Liver is normal in size & echotexture. Multiple small target lesions with thick anechoic  haloes are seen in both lobes, varying in size from 0.6to2.7 cm. The gall bladder is partially distended, no calculi or wall thickening noted.Upper areas show no para aortic lymphadenopathy,lower areas obscure. There is no hydronephrosis or Calculi. Partially distended, no calculi,wall thickening noted. Uterus:Anteverted, measures 6.0X3.0X3.8 cm. Rt ovary is normal in size and echopattern.Lt ovary is not visualized. No adnexal masses.No free fluid in POD.

[TommyGun548]

A related discussion, Re:Concerned about a friend with breast cancer was started.

[deezee]

Hi,
I am new to this website..I came accross it because I am surfing the web to find more information on my mother's illness. 10 years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she had a mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and she was in remission for 10 years. Three months ago my mother was diagnosed with lymphodema, which I understand is normal in breast cancer patients.  Then 1 month later she began having major pain in her other arm, after going to an orthopedic he diagnosed her with osteo-arthritis. The pain began to get more unbearable, a couple of weeks after her leg began to give her trouble. We took her to the emergency room because her leg eas extremely swollen and they told her that the reason why it was so swollen was because she wasn't using it that much. My family became more concerned as days passed, she was no longer able to walk, feed herself or bathe herself. We had enough,so we went to a Rheumatologist and that is when our lives took a turn for the worse. The rheumatologist was puzzled while examining her, she could no longer keep her head up straight. He said "I don't think this is arthritis, I think it is neurological." He became even more concerned when he saw her leg, the swelling was unbelieveable. He felt that we should take her to the ER because she may have a blood clot. We took her to the ER and they found a 5 inch blood clot in her leg, caused by lack of movement. She began to have testing and was given an mri on her head and neck. The results were that she had tumors on her spine which are malignant. The day after the diagnosis, the surgeon performed the much needed surgery. The neurosurgeon said that this was caused by her breast caner. Does anyone have any useful information on spinal tumors caused by breast cancer?
Please help!

[CCF-RN,MSN-JS]

Dear Roch, You didn't ask a question - perhaps you submitted before you had a chance.  However, it sounds like radiation therapy is an appropriate next step to treat this cancerous area in the spine, the idea is to prevent tumor from pressing on the spinal cord, and to help to control pain in that area.  In general, treatment of metastatic breast cancer is done to control the disease and symptoms associated with the disease, which it sounds like is happening.

[surgeon]

You didn't ask a specific question. If you are wanting interpretation of the reports, basically it says there's tumor in her liver and various parts of the spine. The details in the descriptions don't affect anything: the rest of it basically is normal, or normal variations. The only significant stuff is that there's tumor in liver and spine. What that means is that it's not possible to be cured. The planned treatments are aimed at control: meaning trying to control or prevent pain from the spine, and to slow the growth of the tumor. The results of those treatments can range from very effective and life-prolonging, to minimal effect.