My mother was 57 when she got dcis. i was told it wasnegative and no chemotherpay was needed. does this mean that she had trip negative cancer?

Confused: Dcis is ductal carcinoma in situ and it comes in different grades. The most serious can even need mastectomy , i know because i had one. Others are caught very early and the lumpectomy done to find it can be the only treatment recommended which may have jappened here.But cancer is cancer.Some types tend to be more aggressive than others and for breast cancer dcis is not one of those.

Unclear: Dcis is breast cancer (stage 0) still contained within the milk ducts. It's treated with surgery +/- radiation +/- tamoxifen but chemo is not used. Can't say what "negative" is. Negative invasion? That's the definition of dcis. Negative er/pr? Can happen. Those folks usually don't get tam. Negative her2? Little practical use, we don't use Herceptin (trastuzumab) for dcis. Ask the doc what he meant by that.

"Negative" Clarified: Breast cancers are defined by the presence of certain proteins on their cells (tumor markers), including estrogen-, progesterone-, and her2/neu receptors. "triple negative" means that all 3 of these receptors are absent. This is very pertinent for rx of invasive cancer. Dcis, by definition, cannot travel outside the breast; therefore, these markers are less critical since chemo unnecessary.