[Jean]

Susan,

Read the last link I sent to you, If you wish you can call Dr. Perez and
confirm.

The FDA approved the therapy for early stagers in August 2006 Until
recently herceptin was approved only for use in women with metastatic or advanced Her2 positive bc. Carefully designed clinical trials looked into the possiblility that herceptin might benefit women with early stage bc.
Her2-positive breast cancers. It does not say - node positive breast cancer.
It is now known that the cancer can spread via the blood system and
therefore the nodes are not the only outlet.

There has been a recent report released regarding Her2 status associated with recurrence in node - negative bc. presented at SSO
Absence of cancerous cells in sentinel lymph nodes is generally taken as predicting good prognosis, but according to research presented at the 60th annual meeting of the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) node-negative patients whose tumours express Her2 protein may be at a higher than expected risk for cancer recurrence.

Julie E. Lang MD surgical oncology fellow, University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center reported on a retrospective analysis of women who underwent primary breast turmor resection and SLN dissection.
Results of Dr. Lang's analysis showed that Her2 positive patients were significantly more likely to have cancer recurrence...have your Dr. check
into Dr. Lang's research and Dr. Perez....your onc. need to update...

Show and tell your onc....and then sing...HI HO HI HO IT'S OFF TO HERCEPTIN I GO....

Hugs,
Jean