Does everyone have brain MRI's?

jener8er · 10-10-2005, 12:05 PM

Hello everyone, I have been doing some research into ER/PR- breast cancer and brain mets - it seems this is much more common in hormone negative patients. I am er/pg-, strongly Her2+++, pre-menopausal (38). Should I push for a brain MRI? I've never had one. I'm about to finish my 1 year of Herceptin and want to make sure I've done everything I can. Bone scan/PET have been normal.

Thanks for your help.
Jen

kristen · 10-10-2005, 04:38 PM

Hi Jennifer,
I have MRI's done every 6 months by my neurologist. Previous to BC, I had headaches and so she wants to keep a close eye on me. And God love her, I let her. She is also very sympathetic to what peace of mind can do for a patient.

With 30% of mets patients and I can't recall the % from the above post for brain mets for er/pr- patients, I would see if your onc will do it for you. As these ladies here who are fighting these mets, they will be the first to tell you how sneaky they are. Some have symptoms, but most don't. So many have found them by accident or by simply asking for an MRI.

It's good that you are staying on top of it and you do what you feel is right for you.

Tami · 10-10-2005, 05:09 PM

I just finished 1 year of herceptin and had CT/pet scan, full body bone scan and a brain MRI. I wanted to make sure everything was negative/normal before removing my port. All good - port is out. Premenopausal, 45, er/pr-, her2+++

My onc also realizes the huge benefit of peace of mind. She said she would scan annually if I wanted and would scan if anything pops up before then.

Congrats on finishing herceptin...I am looking forward to no treatments - currently NED and running with it.

Thriving and surviving!

Tami

StephN · 10-10-2005, 10:23 PM

There are so many of us living longer and better, that my med onc told me he is seeing more and more BC patients turn up with brain mets. He is a real fan of screening now! We just had this converstion last week when he was giving me my latest results.
Can't be too careful, although having had Herceptin should cut down the chances of brain mets a lot! Wish I could have had that sooner, but it was not generally avail and covered by ins. at that time - trials were quite new and they were random so I did not join one (maybe a mistake on my part - but then 20/20 hindsight does not get us anywhere, right?).

Sheila · 10-11-2005, 06:17 AM

I think we need to get all oncologists up to speed on the brain MRI's.. .hoping the next conference will do that....there is a huge diversity in thinking on routine brain MRI's....amoung oncologists & insurance companies....it should be standard care for all of us....Steph & Christine are perfect examples
Hugs
Sheila

jener8er · 10-11-2005, 08:41 AM

Thank you all so much - I'm seeing my Onc this Friday so I'm going to bring it up with her. She's not a great believer in scans so I don't have my hopes too high, but I'll try non-the-less. Wonder if I should suddenly start having "headaches"? My onc is very "concerned" about me, as the biology of my original tumor was so aggressive. Maybe she'll give me the scan anyway.

Thanks again everyone for your great advice.
Jen

Sheila · 10-11-2005, 10:29 AM

If it takes faking a headache to get one, go for it...that is how I got my first MRI.
Hugs
Sheila