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Rich66 · 09-16-2008, 03:32 PM

Anonymous (sent to my e-mail, posted with permission)
I wanted to respond to your posting regarding the study protocol. I was diagnosed with mets from the beginning. They were quite widespread -- liver, most of my spine, and lots of lymph nodes. I was treated with the protocol for the non-experimental arm of your study -- TCH (Herceptin (trastusumab), Taxol (paclitaxil), and Carboplatin) on a three week on one week off protocol, starting in March 2007. (Please excuse my spelling.) I received Herceptin alone on the off week. After 3 months of treatment my scans showed no evidence of disease (NED). We continued for three more months, and then switched Herceptin and hormonal therapy alone. I just had scans today, and don't yet know the results. But my scans three months earlier still showed NED. I think that TCH or TH is the standard of care for women with metastatic Her2 positive breast cancer with organ involvement. So you can rest assured that your Mom will at least get the standard of care on this study, and perhaps adding Avastin (bevatusumab) will even improve the results further. I note that the study is a phase III study. Perhaps you could ask to see the results from the phase II study. At the very least they should have results which indicate whether adding Avastin increases the toxicity.
------
Hopefully, you have decided on a treatment regimen for your Mom by now. If not, please note that when I sent you my e-mail, I did not realize that she was 70 and had other health issues. In that case, it is possible that Carboplatin would not be advisable, since some studies show that TH is equivalent to TCH, and Carboplatin could be hard on the body. I think the most important thing is to get an opinion from a breast cancer specialist at a major Cancer Center. They will know the risk/benefit analysis of various treatments. You could always have someone local supervise the actual treatments.
-----
In terms of the toxicity of the treatments, I did not have much in the way of side effects from the TCH (with T being Taxol). I had this weekly, which is thought to reduce side effects. I worked part time, ran, and biked throughout treatment. But I was an active 45 year-old at the time, without any other health issues. After 3 months or a bit more, I become somewhat fatigued. Also, after awhile on Saturdays (which was two days after treatment) I wouldn't feel so well, and I would need to rest. But by Monday I was pretty much fine.

09-16-2008, 03:32 PM	#6
Rich66 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: South East Wisconsin Posts: 3,431	Anonymous (sent to my e-mail, posted with permission) I wanted to respond to your posting regarding the study protocol. I was diagnosed with mets from the beginning. They were quite widespread -- liver, most of my spine, and lots of lymph nodes. I was treated with the protocol for the non-experimental arm of your study -- TCH (Herceptin (trastusumab), Taxol (paclitaxil), and Carboplatin) on a three week on one week off protocol, starting in March 2007. (Please excuse my spelling.) I received Herceptin alone on the off week. After 3 months of treatment my scans showed no evidence of disease (NED). We continued for three more months, and then switched Herceptin and hormonal therapy alone. I just had scans today, and don't yet know the results. But my scans three months earlier still showed NED. I think that TCH or TH is the standard of care for women with metastatic Her2 positive breast cancer with organ involvement. So you can rest assured that your Mom will at least get the standard of care on this study, and perhaps adding Avastin (bevatusumab) will even improve the results further. I note that the study is a phase III study. Perhaps you could ask to see the results from the phase II study. At the very least they should have results which indicate whether adding Avastin increases the toxicity. ------ Hopefully, you have decided on a treatment regimen for your Mom by now. If not, please note that when I sent you my e-mail, I did not realize that she was 70 and had other health issues. In that case, it is possible that Carboplatin would not be advisable, since some studies show that TH is equivalent to TCH, and Carboplatin could be hard on the body. I think the most important thing is to get an opinion from a breast cancer specialist at a major Cancer Center. They will know the risk/benefit analysis of various treatments. You could always have someone local supervise the actual treatments. ----- In terms of the toxicity of the treatments, I did not have much in the way of side effects from the TCH (with T being Taxol). I had this weekly, which is thought to reduce side effects. I worked part time, ran, and biked throughout treatment. But I was an active 45 year-old at the time, without any other health issues. After 3 months or a bit more, I become somewhat fatigued. Also, after awhile on Saturdays (which was two days after treatment) I wouldn't feel so well, and I would need to rest. But by Monday I was pretty much fine. __________________ Mom's treatment history (link)