Skip to main content

Archived Comments for: Mammary Paget's disease occurring after mastectomy

Back to article

  1. Mammary Paget's disease occurring after mastectomy

    Jay Gilhart, None

    25 April 2007

    My wife has this. She has had it biopsied before, this is second time. She had multi-node DCIS and has had a mastectomy 3 years ago. This lesion keeps coming back. Please contact us if you can help or advise. Thanks.

    Competing interests

    None declared

  2. The Insidiousness of Mammary Paget's

    Angelina Lenahan, Island View Medical Transcripts

    28 October 2007

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article on the day after I was scheduled for a biopsy for assumed mammary Paget's. A week prior, I had my six month follow up mammogram (alternating with six month MRI), which was perfectly normal. For the past nine years, all of the imaging studies have been normal, even though I am in the high-risk category with a strong family history of breast/ovarian and colon cancer on the maternal side. My sister was diagnosed with DCIS within months of my DCIS diagnosis nine years ago, and last year her cancer recurred as full blown metastases to bone, calvaria, spine and lung. She had never taken tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor, whereas I had taken tamoxifen for five years, and had diligently followed up every six months with imaging studies and breast exams with my medical oncologist.

    I say this disease is insidious because of my own experience. I had taken for granted that everything was fine, as usual. I just happened to mention to the mammography technician that I had a little redness around the areola, nothing bothersome, for about a few months. I asked her to pass that along to the radiologist, who then called me into his office after reading the mammogram. He announced that the images were perfectly normal, but he was concerned that the redness around the areolar complex was Paget's, and that I should see my oncologist soon. I quickly went to my breast surgeon, who agreed.

    What about the women who do not have the kind of education I have? I am a health information editor with a speciality in oncology, and thus I am up to date with signs and symptoms of most cancers. If it weren't for my career, I would have assumed the redness was caused by a new detergent, or a fungal rash, or eczema.

    With all the medical education about self breast exams, looking for lumps or unusual textures beneath the skin, I would like to also include in that education information about Paget's disease of the nipple / areolar complex, and that women (and men) should seek medical attention if they note a redness, flaky, scaling rash, something resembling eczema, that does not respond to topical creams or steroids. They should get a skin biopsy, preferably by a cancer dermatologist or specialist. Until my personal experience, and reading this article, I had not heard of Paget's disease of the mammary in my 30 years of medical editing.

    Competing interests

    No conflict here.

Advertisement