Lani
12-18-2007, 04:37 PM
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/567696
They are now going to look into whether the problem reverses when AIs are stopped/completed
Nevertheless it seems the dry eyes and joint problems seem to be a problem in the her2+ER- patients not on AIs, but may be due to estrogen deprivation due to early menopause induced by the chemotherapy
It just demonstrates that even those on "well accepted" treatments really are just guinea pigs as the longterm consequences have not yet all been worked out. This is not to scare or or worry people, just to have them be aware that the ultimate answers are not known and therefore they must make decisions based on the best information they can find, their own priorities and comfort with risk-taking, and their own personal way of weighting risk vs benefit.
It is for that reason that it is essential that good statistics be developed on her2+ breast cancer so those choosing between treatment options have some statistics to base their decision on ie, if one's risk of recurrence was 2-3% once might be less likely to choose a certain treatment with a certain other level of side effects eg, 4% chance of congestive heart failure with herceptin after an anthracycline based regimen.
Would be nice if the process of providing those stats could be prodded along...
They are now going to look into whether the problem reverses when AIs are stopped/completed
Nevertheless it seems the dry eyes and joint problems seem to be a problem in the her2+ER- patients not on AIs, but may be due to estrogen deprivation due to early menopause induced by the chemotherapy
It just demonstrates that even those on "well accepted" treatments really are just guinea pigs as the longterm consequences have not yet all been worked out. This is not to scare or or worry people, just to have them be aware that the ultimate answers are not known and therefore they must make decisions based on the best information they can find, their own priorities and comfort with risk-taking, and their own personal way of weighting risk vs benefit.
It is for that reason that it is essential that good statistics be developed on her2+ breast cancer so those choosing between treatment options have some statistics to base their decision on ie, if one's risk of recurrence was 2-3% once might be less likely to choose a certain treatment with a certain other level of side effects eg, 4% chance of congestive heart failure with herceptin after an anthracycline based regimen.
Would be nice if the process of providing those stats could be prodded along...