|
Re: percentage of those who respond to Herceptin
Not to add more confusion to the mix, but I happened to catch Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, talking on our local NPR station on Friday (see podcast here), and he said that Herceptin's response rate is around 40 %.
I was expecting it to be much higher as well. I had read the HER-2 book a while back but my chemo brain probably made me forget about it.
In any case, I think there are a lot of inconsistent numbers out there, so I decided to call the HER connection support line. The nurse I spoke to wasn't entirely sure and she'll call me back on Monday to confirm, but the number that she uses is 50-52% reduction in recurrence rate in the adjuvant setting. She thinks the 40 % refers to the metastatic setting.
I'll post an update when I hear from her. I asked her to give me their latest stats.
Enjoy your weekend!
Marcia
__________________
ER+ (30%)/PR-/HER-2+, stage 3
Diagnosed on 02/18/09 at 38 with a huge 12x10 cm tumor, after a 6 month delay. Told I was too young and had no risk factors. Found swollen node during breastfeeding.
March-August 09: neo-adjuvant chemo, part of a trial at Stanford (4 DD A/C, 4 Taxotere with daily Tykerb), loading dose of Herceptin
08/12/09 - bye bye boobies (bilateral mastectomy)
08/24/09 - path report shows 100 % success in breast tissue (no cancer there, yay!), 98 % success in lymphatic invasion, and even though 11/13 nodes were still positive, > 95 % of the tumor in them was killed. Hoping for the best!
September-October 09: rads with daily Xeloda
02/25/10 - Cholecystectomy
05/27/10 - Bone scan clear
06/14/10 - CT scan clear, ovarian cyst found
07/27/10 - Done with Herceptin!
02/15/11 - MVA-BN HER-2 vaccine trial
03/15/11 - First CA 15-3: 12.7 and normal, yay!
10/01/11 - Bone scan and CT scan clear, fatty liver found
now on Tamoxifen and Aspirin
|