I am so happy to report the following.
Right breast findings: No suspicious mass or nonmass enhancement. Specifically, no significant residual enhancement is seen at the extensive sites of previously noted abnormality involving multiple quadrants.
Right lymph nodes: No suspicious axillary or internal mammary lymphadenopathy.
Conclusion: No significant residual abnormal breast enhancement or enlarged lymph nodes, compatible with complete imaging response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Yes, yes, yes!
The MRI showed that I had what is known as a pathologic complete response (pCR) to chemotherapy. (When I have my mastectomy, they will test the tissue that they remove to confirm this fact.) This is a huge thing for someone with triple negative breast cancer. Patients who achieve a pathologic complete response with neoadjuvant therapy tend to have a good prognosis. That is, patients who have pCR are at a much lower risk for subsequent distant disease recurrence. Some studies have found that in cases of aggressive breast cancer, like triple negative, that the benefit is as high as 75%/ one-quarter of the risk of recurrence compared with patients who did not achieve a pathologic complete response.
I have appointments in the upcoming weeks with my surgeon and plastic surgeon. My mastectomy is scheduled for March 22. I am not yet sure what, if anything, the pCR means for my treatment plan. I should know more in the upcoming week.
While I wait, I am simply going to bask in this good news. Good news helps with nausea. It's a scientific fact.
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