herceptin and doxil
"The fact that 52% responded with an additional 38% experiencing stable disease is truly remarkable in the setting of metastatic disease--that amounts to 90% of patients not progressing while on the combination!!!! So obviously herceptin is making a great difference and doxil is a good combination with it(and it is even possible to take "
Gee, I find it hard to jump to this dramatic conclusion with a study of only 30 patients, where the sites of metastases are not discussed and the number of prior treatments is not mentioned. Call me a cynic, but I have been down this metastatic path for almost 7 years now and if I've learned anything, it's to go with my gut not necessarily the study numbers. If I had done that, I would have been gone a long time ago.
I was on doxil last year and was jumping at the bit to add herceptin to it. I spoke to many "experts" including a cardiologist at MD Anderson who wrote a book on doxil and cardiac toxicity. He really encouraged me to try it and said if it was his wife, he would recommend that she do it. Eventually, I decided not to after speaking with Dr. Pegram at UCLA and another prominent onc at Dana Farber because they said there just wasn't enough proof to take the risk and if I damaged my heart muscle I would never get into any future clinical trials. I felt this was prudent advice.
Sometimes, you have to look at the big picture when one makes decisions about prolonging life.
Just my 2 cents......I guess we all have to make decisions that feel right for us.
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