anyone know?

[Unregistered]

I was told by one onc that CMF was not appropriate for someone who is Her2+ and that AC or CEF is better. But now I see that people are taking CEF. Does anyone know what make the difference? I hear the CMF is easier on the system and does not carry the risk of Leukemia, but chose AC because I was told CMF wouldn't work. Was I lied to? I am also er-

[Lyn]

This article below may be of some help, personally after having AC in 1998 as my first line of treatment, I would rather go with the more recent combinaitons. The A, Adriamycin is a bit tuff on the heart, my heart specialist recommends that anyone having the A drugs should take CQ10 to protect the heart, not only that, hair loss in the process. I have also had the CMF, it was pretty easy to tolerate, if you are not concerned about loosing your hair Epirubicin will probably do that for you. My fixation on hair is that I have lost it 4 times now, and I figure there has to be a better way because I keep getting reoccurences anyway. At the moment I am on oral tablet form,"C" Cycloblastin which is Cyclophosphamide - Xeloda which is 5FU "F" chemical name Fuorouracil and Herceptin. Early days so I don't know how it is going.

Love & Hugs Lyn

< < CEF Chemotherapy Better than CMF in Some Cases


CEF Chemotherapy Is Better than CMF for Pre-menopausal Women with Node-Positive Disease
San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, December 2002, Abstract #17 Pritchard KI, et al.

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Background and design of the study: Many types and combinations of drugs work well for different women and different types of breast cancer. Some of the most commonly used chemotherapy combinations include AC—Adriamycin (chemical name: doxorubicin) and Cytoxan (chemical name: cyclophosphamide) and TAC—the T stands for Taxol (chemical name: paclitaxel).

Other effective chemotherapy regimens include Cytoxan (chemical name: cyclophosphamide) in combination with 5-FU (chemical name: fluorouracil). In a study that began in 1989, researchers compared the chemotherapy regimen known as CEF (Cytoxan, epirubicin, 5-FU) to CMF (Cytoxan, methotrexate, 5-FU) for pre-menopausal women with node-positive (cancer cells found in the lymph nodes) breast cancer.

Words on this page

• chemotherapy
• node-positive
• side effects

In 1998, after almost five years of follow-up, the first results of that study were published. They showed that CEF worked better than CMF at lowering the risk of recurrence and lowering the risk of death from the disease. Now strengthened with nearly ten years of follow-up information, the updated results were presented at the San Antonio conference.

Results and conclusions: These new results support the earlier findings. After nearly ten years, the percentages of women who have remained free of breast cancer are:

52% for the women receiving CEF, and
45% for the women receiving CMF.
Overall survival rates in the two groups after ten years are:

62% in the group receiving CEF, and
58% in the group receiving CMF.
In terms of serious side effects, the percentages of women who have had congestive heart failure (weakening of the heart muscle, making it unable to work effectively) are:

1.1% in the group receiving CEF, and
0.3% in the group receiving CMF.
These results continue to demonstrate significant benefits for CEF chemotherapy over CMF for pre-menopausal women with node-positive disease.

Take-home message: If you are pre-menopausal with node-positive disease, you and your doctor may be considering a chemotherapy regimen containing Cytoxan and 5-FU. This study suggests that the CEF regimen might be more effective for you than CMF, although the risk of heart problems with CEF is slightly higher.

Related Areas:
Learn how to stay on track with chemotherapy treatment, and why it's so important to stick with it.

It's important to remember that you're not limited to just one type or one combination of chemotherapy. If the regimen you're taking isn't working well for you, then talk to your doctor about a suitable alternative. Talk to your doctor about all your options and keep in mind that every woman and every cancer respond differently to different treatments.

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