HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post

Joe · 12-18-2008, 08:31 PM

Valerie,
The length of time that a patient receives Herceptin is based on staging. If you are stage I or II then the accepted protocol is 1 year anthough some oncologists may prefer the protocol used in the HERA trials - 2 years.

Many patients who are Stage III & IV have been on Herceptin for more than 2 years.

Christine had been on it for almost 9 years. There are really no known long term side effects to Herceptin although some patients may see a gradual decline in their heart's ejection factor. This is usually treated by discontinuing Herceptin for a period of time to enable the ejection factor to bounce back, but this is rare.

At San Antonio, Saturday night they showed a slide of a study that showed that 20% of bc patients change HER2 status. Either from + to - or from - to +. They did not differientiate.

Regards
Joe

12-18-2008, 08:31 PM	#2
Joe Webmaster Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Home of the "Flying Tomato" Carlsbad, CA Posts: 2,036	Valerie, The length of time that a patient receives Herceptin is based on staging. If you are stage I or II then the accepted protocol is 1 year anthough some oncologists may prefer the protocol used in the HERA trials - 2 years. Many patients who are Stage III & IV have been on Herceptin for more than 2 years. Christine had been on it for almost 9 years. There are really no known long term side effects to Herceptin although some patients may see a gradual decline in their heart's ejection factor. This is usually treated by discontinuing Herceptin for a period of time to enable the ejection factor to bounce back, but this is rare. At San Antonio, Saturday night they showed a slide of a study that showed that 20% of bc patients change HER2 status. Either from + to - or from - to +. They did not differientiate. Regards Joe __________________ A Proud webmaster to the internet's most informed, educated, COMPASSIONATE and caring group of breast cancer survivors. Illegitimi non carborundum My Album