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if the oncologists wanted to be somewhat scientific about it, rather than just
speculating, they would start a clinical trial measuring serum her2 ECD, circulating tumor cells and periodic bone marrows looking for isolated tumor cells in those on herceptin to see if the dormant cells (probably breast cancer stem cells) which lurk in the bone marrow and are probably responsible for recurrences are present at baseline, respond to therapy, and are obliterated before considering stopping herceptin in a stage 4 patient (and if they recur after/while weaning off of herceptin)
Otherwise, they have to wait years to get the stats on lots of patients whose tumors may have very different characteristic and perhaps should not have been lumped together in the first place eg. perhaps different subtypes of her2+er+ breast cancer fuelled by different pathways which ends up painting a muddied picture which is difficult to interpret anyway (especially as so many take flaxseed oil, olive oil, curcumin, and some exercise and some don't, etc--all these things make the statistics less meaningful.
Here's hoping that Individualized treatment becomes the norm in the future.
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Hybrid Mode
