Can anyone help please??

[tricia keegan]

A lady I know from another message board I visit occasionally was dx two years ago.In may they found two spots on her lung and she began xeloda but has just discovered it is'nt working and is so short of breath now she can't climb stairs and feels she only has a couple of months to live as the cancer has completly spread through her lungs in just a few months.I don't know if she is her 2neu positive but will ask her.If she is (or is'nt) does anyone know of anything else she can try? I have advised her to come here to ask but in case she does'nt I thought I'd post this myself in the hope of learning something to pass on to her.You all seem to be so knowledgable about mets etc I'm just hoping she has some options.
Hugs
Tricia

[Becky]

Tricia


If she just recurred and hasn't tried anything else since the first go around, how about Navelbine? She could also try a taxane (Taxol, Taxotere or Abraxane) with carboplatin (and Avastin if allowed in your country). There is also Gemzar too.

Navelbine has good syngergy with Xeloda as well.

I will pray for your friend.

Becky

[tricia keegan]

Thank you Becky for the info and replying so quickly.Although I live in Ireland she is American and lives there so I'll certainly pass on these suggestions asap to her.She only just had the recurrance to her lungs in May so hopefully by adding some of your suggestions she may get lucky.Thank you again

Tricia

[Sherryg683]

I had taxotere, Xeloda, and Herceptin together. ...it's a good combination..sherryg683

[tricia keegan]

Thanks Sherry

hopefully her onc will listen to these suggestions as she has only had xeloda so far and I have the impression he basically has given up on her.She may need another opinion and onc asap who won't give up so easily.
Tricia

[Ceesun]

Hello-I have just begun a clinical trial with Xeloda-Navelbine and Herceptin for 1 small lung met-have been on herceptin alone for 10 months. Best wishes Ceesun

[Cathya]

Hi;

Remember the stats that up to 60% of bc patients are her2+ eventually....even if they tested negative originally. I would suggest that she take the Bayer Serum her2 test. She can get her onc to write out the requisition and go to Quest for the test. It's a simple blood test with results back in about a week. With the way her lung mets are growing I think it's worth testing. All the best to her.

Cathy

[Lolly]

Just to clarify Cathy's post, here's an excerpt from the discussion on this board with Dr. Carney(with Oncogene Science) about the FDA approved use of the Bayer Serum Her2 test, along with a link to the discussion:

Dr. Walt Carney on the Bayer Serum test:
http://her2support.org/vbulletin/sho...ghlight=Carney

"...Studies have now shown that 10-40% or metastatic breast cancer patients with a negative IHC or FISH test can have an elevated serum HER-2/neu in metastatic breast cancer. As you know, patients negative by tissue testing can't receive Herceptin. The serum HER-2/neu test is not approved to select patients for Herceptin. However, if patient has an elevated serum HER-2/neu then they should have their original primary tumor re-evaluated by the approved IHC or FISH test to see if the tumor is HER-2/neu positive. If the tumor is negative or not available you should discuss with your oncologist testing a metastatic lesion for HER-2/neu positivity by IHC or FISH. If positive, then the patient can be eligble for Herceptin, if the Oncologist recommends it. Once again, the serum HER-2/neu test is not approved for selecting patients for Herceptin but can provide guidance back to the approved tissue tests...



...Susanne. There are a number of reports that patients can be HER-2/neu negative by IHC or FISH and have an elevated serum HER-2/neu. This can have a number of reasons. One reason is that the original biopsy showed too few HER-2/neu positive cells to score the specimen positive. This iisn't a mistake by the pathologist but what is seen under the microscope. With respect to IHC, a pathologist scores the patient as HER-2/neu positive if greater than 10% of the cells seen under the microscope are 3+. It is certainly possible that someone who has 5% IHC 3+ cells at the primary diagnosis is designated HER-2/neu negative according to the guidelines for scoring patients. It is also possible that these HER-2/neu positive cells are the ones that spread to other parts of the body and grow. As these HER-2/neu positive tumors grow they can shed the HER-2/neu fragment into the blood. As the tumor grows and goes to more sites, the concentration of shed HER-2/neu can build up to detectable levels in the blood. We can then detect the elevated levels in the serum of the patient with the test. I think it is becoming clear that someone with an initial HER-2/neu status of HER-2/neu negative should be re-evaluated. An elevated serum HER-2/neu can then be used to go back and test the primary tumor again or to test a metastatic lesion. If either the primary or the metastatic lesion is now HER-2/neu positive by IHC or FISH the doctor can consider Herceptin for the patient. At this time, the serum HER-2/neu test is not approved to place patients on Herceptin but it can be informative..."

[al from Canada]

Navelbine was originally developed for lung cancer and seems to be highly effective with BC lung mets....either (in the case of HER2+++) with herceptine alone or by adding xeloda.

Al