Adenocarcinoma Recurrence after 7 years - Anyone else?

Hello,

In 2010 i was treated by a cone biposy for Adenocarcinoma In situ, and subsequently got the all clear, and had frequent all clear smears until now.

In discussions with my gyno prior to pathology, in April she told me that she assumed everything after this amount of time, would probably mean that I was in the clear, and that after next year would scale back to 2 yearly as the rules are soon being changed.. I was so relieved! no more yearly smears ... but unfortunatley the pathology results came back and it seems that they saw cellular changes and I had to have another cone biopsy to further investigate.

After the biposy, MRI, CT and visit with oncologist last week, I have been diagnosed with Stage IB1... and recommended for radical hysterectomy, with ovaries and bilateral lymph nodes removed...

Has anyone had a recurrence of this after this amount of time? Is it that I have HPV that I will always be prone to cancer in the areas it affects? Will it ever go away if this clears it for now? Feeling a bit doomed...

Thanks,

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Krissi:

Sorry to hear that you are dealing with the crap again.

I'm an adenocarcinoma girl too and this is my understanding of what may have happened, although clearly I;m no doctor.

Adenocarcinoma is glandular so, in a small percentage of cases, skip lesions can occur. That's what happened to me and maybe that's what's happened to you. Back in 2010 when your AIS was removed, maybe another tumour was hiding in your cervix, or wherever. These are really really difficult to find because they can be surrounded by healthy tissue. Your hysterectomy will remove anything still lurking around and you'll be good to go.

Take care

love t xx

Thank you Teresa,

I have asked my oncologist how it has come back, how my yearly smears have missed this when they deliberately have been doing the higher smears to detect this,  and he thinks it could have either grown in the last 12 months (quickly) or missed previously as the lesion may have been under the surface of normal cells and hard to detect.  I know I am a small percentage that this happens to but now after researching, it appears adenocarcinoma does frequently come back, and perhaps it would have been better to offer a hysterectomy in the last couple years, and I could have avoided this.  I dont know, Im thinking I might ask for audit on my previous smears also...

He also seems to think that I need to remove my ovaries as it is likely to come back there, so Im going the whole lot, and praying it hasnt spread to my lymph nodes..

So happy your last check ups have been clear for you, everyones positives gives me hope.

You take Care too xxx

 

HI:

I think skip lesions are rare-ish, but as I was finished with kids, having a hysterectomy seemed the safer route. As you can see from my signature, there was another tumour hiding in my cervix.

Pap smears aren't so good for adenocarcinoma/gladular abnormalities. You have to wait until an abnormal cell drops down onto the face of the cervix before the pap picks it up.  I had annual smears - I'm in the US and it's the protocol here - for 20 years by a gyno and nothing showed up until the last one.

The cone biopsy is like a lucky dip - you put your hand in and if you're lucky you grab a prize. The next time you put your hand in, you may get nothing, which is not to say that there aren't more prizes in there, hiding in the sawdust. Which is not to say a tumour is a prize, but you know what I mean.

If you're done with kids, I would definitely have a hysterectomy.

I kept my ovaries.  There's a ton of articles online about pros and cons of doing that. Ovarian cancer is not known to be linked with cervical cancer, and ovaries do continue to secrete protective hormones, even post menopause. They protect against heart attack and osteoporosis, plus stroke, I think. Have a read and make your mind up if you end up going the hysterectomy route.

Take care

love t xx