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Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Phyllodes tumour of the breast says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. A phyllodes tumour is a fast-growing, usually painless breast lump of gland and connective tissue that forms leaf-like fronds. Most are benign, some borderline and a few malignant, behaving like a sarcoma and spreading through the blood. Treatment is surgery with a rim of normal tissue; radiotherapy is considered for higher grades, and chemotherapy has little proven role. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Ultrasound and mammography, core needle biopsy, and excision of any rapidly growing or large fibroepithelial lesion because biopsy cannot reliably separate phyllodes tumour from fibroadenoma.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
Complete excision with clear margins; observation if margins are close after a benign diagnosis.
Wide excision aiming for clear margins or mastectomy for large tumours, no axillary staging, and adjuvant radiotherapy considered after breast conservation.
Treated as a soft-tissue sarcoma with doxorubicin-based chemotherapy; no proven benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.
Every term links to the glossary.