Circulating cancer cells

[Poorni123]

Hi All,

My friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer DCIS with less than 1mm microinvasion last year, will be completing 1yr in October .She is all the time worried about circulating tumors cells(if any).She is on Anastrozole.Dr Sumeet can you pls help her? Do you think Anastrozole can control these tumor cells?

[Dil2310]

Dear Poorni,

to my knowledge ,there is no drug which kills particularly CTC's.. These cells are really dangerous not only for microinvasion but also for the relapse/recurrence also. So better to have regular monitoring on these cells for early detection of relapse/recurrence as well as to know the treatment efficasy.

[Poorni123 in reply to Dil2310]

Thanks for the reply though it is quite disturbing.

[sumeet_shah Administrator]

Tell her, not to worry at all. CTC has absolutely NO application in DCIS. DCIS is a pre cancerous stage. She need not check at all for them. CTC is done for full blown cancers, not for pre cancerous stages. Tell your friend, she stands cured after her surgery and chance of recurrence are less than a few percent. Let her eat everything, do everything and enjoy her life. If she still remains apprehensive, then she needs counseling from her Oncologist. Your friend is a typical example of half baked knowledge read on Google and getting lost. CTC has no role here.

If she stays in Mumbai, ask her to contact me. Will counsel her.

[Poorni123]

Thank you Dr Sumeet.sorry for the late response . Somehow I missed your post.My friend lives in Bangalore but I will definitely tell her that.Thank you so much.