concerned?

Hi all.
I keep reading over and over about the fantastic risk reduction for recurrance of stage 1 BC for patients that have had taxol and herceptin together.
I am feeling really uncomfortable right now becuase this was not recommended for me. I was given 4 AC and now on herceptin for a year for a 7mm er/pr- tomour. 2 out of 3 oncs recommended this regimin and only one recommended taxol and I was unable to go to him. My current onc said that taxol only added a 1% benefit for me and that the risks outweighed the benefits. Now reading all these articles I am nevous. Can anyone tell me what the benefits of herceptin would be in my case?

Uneasy.

[Becky]

Don't be uneasy. The Hera trial is the way you are receiving your Herceptin. This trial gave herceptin to women who finished any kind of chemotherapy regime after the chemo was over. They received the Herceptin for one year. Comparing these women to those who received no herceptin, there was a 46% reduction in recurrence rate. This trial is still ongoing because there was a third arm in the trial where they are also comparing how the recurrence rate is affected by receiving 2 years of Herceptin.


There was another study that compared women using 4AC followed by 12 weekly taxol with or without herceptin. If you were on the herceptin arm, you continued herceptin alone for another 40 weeks (for 52 weeks total herceptin treatments). This study gave slightly better recurrence rate reduction (of 52%). But, as you can see, it is not that much better.

You are getting herceptin and you have a tumor that is less than 1cm so you are very, very lucky. Most protocol states that the tumor must be greater than 1cm if you are node negative. If you are node positive, it does not matter how large the tumor is.

Don't be uneasy, be happy. Enjoy your Sunday.

Best regards

Becky