HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - percentage of those who respond to Herceptin

bejuce · 03-09-2010, 11:41 AM

Hi everyone,

I spoke to a nurse at the HER2 Connections program yesterday (the number to call, btw, if anyone is curious is 1-866-449-4372). She told me that "response rate" is a term used only for metastatic patients, as in, how many of the patients when given the drug will show a response to it (tumor shrinkage). For those taking Herceptin in an adjuvant setting, the term they use is the "recurrence rate" or the rate by which patients on the drug would have a recurrence down the road.

So she clarified that the 40 % number is the response rate for metastatic patients, and the 50-52% number is the reduction in recurrence rate for the adjuvant patients. Note that these are the numbers officially provided by Genentech at the moment. I've seen higher/better numbers being given by oncologists elsewhere.

The lesson for me is not to focus on those numbers so much. Of course it helps hearing all the success stories out there; I try to tell myself that we're making history so to speak!!

Keep healthy,

Marcia

03-09-2010, 11:41 AM	#16
bejuce Senior Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 510	Re: percentage of those who respond to Herceptin Hi everyone, I spoke to a nurse at the HER2 Connections program yesterday (the number to call, btw, if anyone is curious is 1-866-449-4372). She told me that "response rate" is a term used only for metastatic patients, as in, how many of the patients when given the drug will show a response to it (tumor shrinkage). For those taking Herceptin in an adjuvant setting, the term they use is the "recurrence rate" or the rate by which patients on the drug would have a recurrence down the road. So she clarified that the 40 % number is the response rate for metastatic patients, and the 50-52% number is the reduction in recurrence rate for the adjuvant patients. Note that these are the numbers officially provided by Genentech at the moment. I've seen higher/better numbers being given by oncologists elsewhere. The lesson for me is not to focus on those numbers so much. Of course it helps hearing all the success stories out there; I try to tell myself that we're making history so to speak!! Keep healthy, 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