When should you ask for a brain MRI?

[Brenda_D]

Knowing that Herceptin doesn't protect the brain from metastasis, at what point in your treatment should you request a brain MRI?
I know most onc's want to wait for symptoms, but I'd rather not, since I can't tell what may be Herceptin related side effects (headache, blurred vision at times) or not.

[Ceesun]

I aked for once last week for the first time and will have it next week. Ceesun

[Sheila]

I ask for one every year...I just fake a few headaches so the insurance will cover it.

[hutchibk]

I got my first one 14 months after my initial treatment, when we found my first recurrence, when we decided to look at everything just to be sure, and no brain mets. I didn't get Herceptin until my first recurrance. Then I got Herceptin with and without chemo for 20 months. We MRIed once again during those 20 months (while I was still getting Carbo and Taxol with Herceptin) and no brain mets. Then we MRIed last March while I was getting Herceptin and Taxol only, and that's when we found my small brain mets. I am thinking that since Carbo crosses the BBB, that it protected me, but without it is when my mets crossed to the brain. My doc doesn't necessarily buy my theory hook line and sinker, but the chronology works for me...

I say push for a base-line when you finish your year of Herceptin, but if your headaches increase or are not relieved with pain-relievers, tell you onc and see if they will do one. I say err on the side of caution. My brain mets had NO symptoms! We did the MRI because I pushed for it, and lucky we did, because we found the mets while small and fairly easy to treat.

[tousled1]

I would ask for a yearly brain MRI. I had my first one shortly after starting Herceptin and while I was going through radiation. I started to get headaches so got the MRI - everything clear. I had my second one this year = almost a year to the date of last one - and a 5mm lesion was discovered. Now I will have brain MRIs every 3 months for a while.

[mts]

Our HER2support founder -Christine- really has first dibs to claim brain MRI's as a necessary diagnostic.

There is nothing like peace of mind. I would feign headaches too if that was the only way to get a brain MRI. A lot of doctors wait for symptoms before ordering imaging... follow your instincts.

Maria

[madubois63]

I asked for a brain MRI long before my doc suggested one. I have many times suggested faking sysmptoms if it's the only way to get a test covered by insurance. I think everyone dealing with breast cancer should have one - if for nothing else but peace of mind and a baseline. We have to be one step ahead of this disease, and if your at this site reading these boards, you know it CAN happen to any one of us. My friend Maryann complained to her onc about visual changes. He did not give her an MRI...she is gone now and I blame him! The minute she said anything, she should have had a prescription for the test in hand...