HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Is there benefit in surgery for stage iv's

Lisa1962 · 09-17-2012, 07:27 AM

Hi Vonny -
I was diagnosed with spine mets at my initial diagnosis - so I was stage IV from the beginning. I was 42. The standard back in 2004 was no surgery for Stage IV but the thinking has been changing slowly. There have been studies that show benefit to removing the primary tumor on patients that are relatively healthy and who have cancer that is responding. It's something to talk about - I finally had a mastectomy a few years after my diagnosis. I'm still stable - and I feel so much better having removed my killer breast....

I hope you daughter has doctors who are willing to work with her on this and that she can help take control of her medical decisions.

09-17-2012, 07:27 AM	#11
Lisa1962 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 41	Re: Is there benefit in surgery for stage iv's Hi Vonny - I was diagnosed with spine mets at my initial diagnosis - so I was stage IV from the beginning. I was 42. The standard back in 2004 was no surgery for Stage IV but the thinking has been changing slowly. There have been studies that show benefit to removing the primary tumor on patients that are relatively healthy and who have cancer that is responding. It's something to talk about - I finally had a mastectomy a few years after my diagnosis. I'm still stable - and I feel so much better having removed my killer breast.... I hope you daughter has doctors who are willing to work with her on this and that she can help take control of her medical decisions. __________________ Diagnosed 2/05 as Stage IV ER/PR and HER-2 +