Fish test and herceptin

[beth]

i have been on herceptin for 4 years and have been ned since the end of treatment. I have stage 3b inflammatory breast cancer. 8 out of 18 post nodes.

My original tumor ws not tested using the fish test but the ich test and it showed her2 ++ positve.

Because I will start Medicare next Month my onc thought we needed to do the fish test to determine that I really needed herceptin.

Well we got the results and came back as a 1.5 so I will no longer be getting herceptin.

Has anyone ever experienced this or know if fish can be an error. They did the test from the original tumor block.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

[Anonymous]

Gosh, Beth, I was reading over posts and saw that no one had responded to your question. I don't really know the answer but recall that there were some posting about the fish test not long ago. Try doing a search on it and see what you come up with. Your situation sounds odd but I don't know enough to comment knowledgeably. Good luck!

[Lolly]

Hi Beth,
Same here, I was scanning down the board today and saw your question, so have posted a link to some informative articles posted by Paul on the "Articles of Interest" page that may give you some answers. It's wonderful you've done so well!
hugs, Lolly