Cording in breast due to radiotherapy

dizzybuff38

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone had been diagnosed with cording in the breast, a year after radiotherapy? I had a 2cm invasive ductal cancer, 2 surgeries early 2003, then 6 x FEC and 45 rads, finishing treatment Nov 03. About 3 months ago I felt a long lump in the upper part of the breast which had the tumour - the tumour was below the nipple. I went to my GP and he felt it and sent me for an urgent referral to the breast care centre where I was treated. I was seen on a Sat morning, so guess it was urgent. Unfortunately the duty breast surgeon was not the one who treated me, but he was kind and communicative.
He sent me off right away for an ultrasound (no mammo) and the radiologist advised there was no tumour, and the lump was due to radiotherapy.
I don't even remember the surgeon telling us this, I only remember his saying that I can never expect my breast to feel the same, after chemo and rx. My husband remembered about the cording, and says I should forget about the lump, as I had very good advice from the surgeon.
I have never heard of this - cording in the arm due to axilliary removal yes, but not in the breast itself.
I feel such a hypochondriac and daren't go back to my GP - but the lump is still there. It wasn't there until 3 months ago and I am concerned it is a recurrence. I was grade 2, stage 2, with 3/18 nodes positive. I am not scheduled to see my own breast surgeon for an annual mammo until March 2005 and the worry of this current lump is making me sick with worry - I can't eat and am losing a lot of weight.
Dr. Leo - have you heard of this cording due to rx? I would appreciate any advice from anyone to put my mind at rest.
Many thanks, Liz in England.

leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Hello

I don't think I understand what you mean by "cording". Would you please elaborate on this ?

thanks
Leo
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Leonardo F - Webmaster Cancer Forums
Disclaimer: this information is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice.

dizzybuff38

Hi Dr. Leo - thank you for responding so quickly. I can only guess what the surgeon meant i.e. the same type of cording one gets in the arm after axillary node removal. The lump feels like a long cord or piece of very thick string.
I've never seen this side effect of rx especially some 9 months after finishing treatment and that is why I am concerned.
Liz.

AlaskaAngel · Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:41 pm Post subject: Changes after rads tx

On another forum I saw posts about cording in the breasts, which was mostly discussed as something felt to be "ropy" in the breast and was due to rads treatment for bc. I don't think it is very common. The woman who posted about it was being treated with a medication for it and she wasn't sure whether the medication was helping or not.

I have rads damage in the breast too, called "fatty necrosis", but it is a very hard piece of tissue where the fat in the breast was burned and melted into a hard shape. It is painful to any pressure so I no longer can sleep on my front side at all, and it isn't very pleasnt. It isn't all that common either. I have taken a very low dose of amitriptyline for it at times, but that along with the loss of estrogen from chemo treatment was too drying to the eyes, so I only take the amitriptyline when the pain is pretty awful.

Best wishes to you. I wish there was more awareness of how damaging treatment can be for us, so that docs have more genuine perspective about recommending it to some of us for whom the benefit is so marginal.

AlaskaAngel

I suspect both of these are just uncommon enough that they are not usually mentioned as possible side effects from radiation -- whether or not we have a "right to know" so that we can make better decisions about whether to have treatment.

leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Hello

Tissue induration after radiation therapy may happen, but it is not very common. There are so many changes that the tissues go through after being irradiated that the changes may be long-term.

best regards,
Leo
_________________
Leonardo F - Webmaster Cancer Forums
Disclaimer: this information is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice.

dizzybuff38

Dr. Leo and Alaska Angel - thank you sincerely for your responses to my post. I had a consultation with my gastro yesterday about my Crohn's and brought up the subject of cording in my breast as he had worked for some time in radiology. He seconded the surgeon's opinion and Dr. Leo's that changes due to rx can occur many months after finishing treatment and I should "just keep an eye on the lump" - with a slide rule? I must say I feel a lot happier now I know this is a side effect of the treatment. Thank you again. Liz.

AlaskaAngel

You're welcome, Liz. By the way, I eventually did make it a point to go back and see the rads doc I had for rads treatment, even though I had to travel back to California to do it. I think that rads docs do not generally see these problems because it takes so long for them to surface. I wanted the rads doc to have more information about what happens with some of the patients she has treated. I like her quite a bit as she has always been very conscientious with me. She examined the breast and we decided to do an MRI for the area in question. The MRI did not indicate cancer. I then saw my surgeon, who had told me previously that he believed it was probably fatty necrosis. He then reviewed the MRI as well. He eventually did a needle aspiration, which I appreciated because it did relieve some of the pressure/pain that had been building up, and that pain has never been quite as bad since then.

So... in summary... I think the docs are not as informed about these things as they would be if in the normal course of events they did get to see us again, which they generally don't, so they just truly don't actually know what the outcome is.

But now my rads doc does know.

Alaska Angel

dizzybuff38 · Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:09 pm Post subject: Cording due to rx

Alaska Angel - thank you sincerely for sharing your experience with cording due to rx - I cannot begin to tell you how much your insight has meant to me. I didn't even had a radiation oncologist - we have socialised medicine in England and it is a little different to the Us protocols. I did have good care, but not a rx doctor I could talk to. Once I finished chemo I was sent to radiotherapy and just saw technicians and nurses. I think I had one consulation with the chemo oncologist after chemo and during rx, so it is all a bit of a blur. Not exactly awe inspiring is it?
Thank you so much for your caring and sharing.
Love, Liz.

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