discontinuing herceptin treatment
 

I have been reading all of the posts on this site all during my treatment for breast cancer and found them to be very helpful. I received a call from my cardio doctor's office after my last echo cardiogram and the nurse said that they found leakage from the mitral valve. I asked if this was herceptin related but she didn't think so. Has anyone stopped treatment because of this problem? I know that herceptin can affect heart function. I;m going to try and speak with the doctor soon.

Re: discontinuing herceptin treatment
 

Hi,

I was diagnosed with (congenital) Mitral Valve Prolapse in 1985. My weekly Herceptin after 6 rounds of TCH in 2007 had to be stopped after just 4 weeks when the MUGA score declined more than 10%.

Several members on the Board were able to resume treatment after doing vigorous exercise and using nutrition supplement.

Below is the abstract of an article on a case related to the chemotherapy effect on the heart:

Kyobu Geka. 2011 Mar;64(3):207-11.
[Infective endocarditis with destruction of the mitral valve annulus and the left atrial posterior wall after cancer chemotherapy].

[Article in Japanese]
Higashi R, Saso M, Yamamoto T, Miyake T, Koh E.
Source

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kyoto Second Red-Cross Hospital, Kyoto, Japan.

Abstract

The case is reported of a 48-year-old man who underwent distal pancreatectomy, splenectomy, and 4 cycles of postoperative chemotherapy for stage I pancreatic cancer, at the age of 47. Four days after completion of chemotherapy, the patient developed high-grade fever (40 degrees C). In addition, on day 10, he developed disturbance of consciousness, followed by symptoms of shock, which led to emergency hospitalization. On day 4 of admission, the patient was diagnosed as having infective endocarditis and severe mitral valve insufficiency, and was started on antibiotic and heart failure therapy. Surgery was performed on day 16 of admission; the mitral valve infection had spread to the valve cusp and ring, and thence to the posterior wall of the left atrium. After excision of the lesions, the patient underwent mitral valve replacement with a collared prosthesis valve and a translocation procedure. The postoperative course was uneventful, and there has been no recurrence of inflammation or paraprosthetic leakage over the year and 6 months since the operation.

Re: discontinuing herceptin treatment
 

I have MVP...mitral valve prolapse, with a leaky mitral valve, I have been on Herceptin for 8 years now, I do take Lisinopril and Coreg to keep my heart function strong, and have regular Echocardiograms....no problems with the MVP and Herceptin in 8 years.