[VDC]

"I have a question about radiation. I am Her2 triple positive. I have gone through chemo with two conventional chemos and two target therapy drugs, one of them being Herceptin. Two weeks after finishing chemo I had a lumpectomy with 5 sentinel nodes removed. All margins came back clear. They now want me to have 5 weeks of daily radiation with a 6th week of boost radiation. Before Herceptin was discovered in 1998, chemo and radiation was not successful in treating Her2. My question is, why is radiation recommended for Her2 now? There is no data that shows that radiation kills Her2 cancer cells. My Dr. admitted as much and the only research is from the 70’s and 73% of the women in the study had hormone driven breast cancer and was not specific to Her2. My tumor was on the left side, the two target therapies I was given, one being Herceptin which I am continuing with every three weeks for a year, can potentially damage the heart, so can radiation on the left side. Along with all the other side effects of radiation, I am looking for any information that would encourage me to get the radiation. I am seriously afraid of getting radiation. I don’t want to get treatment that has serious side effects if it is not effective against Her2. It seems radiation is just the standard treatment for breast cancer in general so that is why they recommend it. But I want proof, I need proof. I am sick with worry. Radiation did not work for Her2 before Herceptin so why do they want to give radiation now? I need a reasonable answer."

I'm not positive on this but my understanding is that herceptin damages the cell (plugs up the the growth receptors on the surface of the cell....Her2 cancer has WAY more growth receptors than usual) So, plugging up some of the growth receptors makes the cancer cells more like "regular cancer cells" rather than her2 cancer cells. I"m not sure I explained this well, but basically the herceptin makes the cells more like the her2 negative cells which means that radiation is able to be more effective.

That said, however, when I met with the radiation oncologist, I asked about long term effects of radiation on what will remain of my breast after lumpectomy and he mentioned most of what has already been mentioned....hardening of the skin, loss of feeling etc. I asked if the effects are immediate or if they show up over time. He said they usually DON'T show up until after at least THREE years post radiation and continue to develop for years sometimes. Wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear........