New friend!
 

I have a new friend that has joined the board! she is posting a question on the welcome newcomers page. Her main question is about the FISH score she got back. Her IHC was 2+ and her FISH came back 1.6. I thought the FISH would be alittle higher then that. Anyway, at first i was telling her to push for a year of herceptin. Now that her FISH is that low do you all think that 12 weeks of taxol and Herceptin would be enough, because of the Finland trial? Another question is on the FISH report they noted a monosomy number of cells. Does anyone know that that means? thanks all

Monosomy means just one chromosome instead of the usual 2. Aneuploid means many chromosomes (instead of the usual 2) - I only say this because many of us are aneuploid.

I thought to be Her2+ and you tested 2+ or 1+ on IHC and FISH was done, your score had to be 2 or over to be Her2+.

I know many women prior to the completion of the trial that got 6 rounds of TCH and no further Herceptin (since the trial was ongoing) and they are doing very, very well. The key for short stints on Herceptin would be to take it with the taxane which is what your friend might do.

Becky,

Sorry that you had to refer a friend to this board, but it is a good place for support and information. Reagarding your question:

The IHC test shows if there is too much HER-2 receptor protein in the cancer cells.
The FISH test shows if there are too many copies of the HER-2 gene in the cancer cells.

Only cancers that test IHC "3+" or FISH "positive" will respond well to therapy that works against HER-2. An IHC 2+ test result is called borderline.

You didn't mention your freind's size of tumor or node status. If your friend is node negative with a small tumor she will do well with the short treatment with the Herceptin. Herceptin usually isn't given to women who are weakly positive and only stage I. Also it's a good indicator that her cells are not aneuploid. Research has shown that only women who test IHC2+ will benefit from the use of Herceptin.

she is stage 2. Had a small tumor with micromets and one pos node.