Tamoxifen effectiveness in HER+?

[saleboat]

The audio was a bit confusing if listened to out of context. They seem to switch subjects between the treatment of early-stage bc and those patients with mets.

My main take-away is that in the adjuvent trials of herceptin, there is no, as yet, clinical difference between those women who also take Tamox and those who take an AI. I can't explain it, although there is a lot of conjecture. It does make sense-- Her2 is a nasty cancer, and really drives the bus-- the er and pr may just be a passenger on the ride, if you know what I mean.

For me, I wasn't really second guessing the decision to take Tamox-- I've already tortured myself about it and concluded, with the help of three different very respected Oncs, that it was the right course of action. For my own layperson read of the situation, I always placed my chips on the Herceptin-- not confident that the hormonal stuff would do much for me. THE MAIN THING-- and this gets lost--- is that Tamox is the ONLY anti-hormonal that is proven to reduce the risk of a new breast cancer. (It may be that AIs do this also, but there isn't data that I know of) So, this fact, plus the fact that I really couldn't take an AI without serious anti-ovary action, (I fear the QOL and long-term health consequences), I remain a happy Tamoxifin pill popper-- and thankfully, I don't have any side-effects from it.

Hope this helps!!!

Jen