[Barbara2]

Keep in mind that when Dr. Pegram and I were discussing maintenance Herceptin, it was in regards to NED, no recurrence/early stage breast cancer. I had read where docs were speculating how to keep cancer from recurring in the early stage patients; sometimes they recur after 5 or 10 years or later, and what could be done to prevent that, and would more herceptin at a later date, be an option.

So the question was, should these NED people (who already have received herceptin) try herceptin again later, say 5 years after diagnosis, or whatever, in hopes that the additional herceptin would keep cancer from returning.

That's when he said no, one year of herceptin should be enough. Then he went on to explain that trials are ongoing in testing less and less amounts of herceptin in order to determine what amount is really needed.

As you pointed out, Andi is stage IV, so (I would suppose) that is why the doctor suggested that Herceptin be continued.