HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - ER alpha-status of disseminated tumor cells in bone marrow of primary bc patients

AlaskaAngel · 10-08-2008, 11:48 AM

Thanks for the recent update, Hopeful. When I asked my onc about this clear back in 2002 he seemed to think it had genuine potential even back then.

A trade-off for substituting BM sampling in place of the large amounts of rads one gets from all the CTs, mammograms, BSGI, etc. over time that are CUMULATIVE is that BM sampling is a painful and invasive procedure. But it would be of significant advantage, as once tested and found to have none, a stage I could consider hormonal therapy or trastuzumab alone more deeply. After all, as the article indicates,

"We know that only a minority of approximately 10% to 20% of patients do really benefit from systemic therapy"

Systemic therapy may make us tend to "feel" like we have protection, but 80% to 90% of us are getting no advantage from doing systemic therapy.

AlaskaAngel

10-08-2008, 11:48 AM	#5
AlaskaAngel Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Alaska Posts: 2,018	Better ways of making decisions Thanks for the recent update, Hopeful. When I asked my onc about this clear back in 2002 he seemed to think it had genuine potential even back then. A trade-off for substituting BM sampling in place of the large amounts of rads one gets from all the CTs, mammograms, BSGI, etc. over time that are CUMULATIVE is that BM sampling is a painful and invasive procedure. But it would be of significant advantage, as once tested and found to have none, a stage I could consider hormonal therapy or trastuzumab alone more deeply. After all, as the article indicates, "We know that only a minority of approximately 10% to 20% of patients do really benefit from systemic therapy" Systemic therapy may make us tend to "feel" like we have protection, but 80% to 90% of us are getting no advantage from doing systemic therapy. AlaskaAngel