Anybody had taken Taxol as Neoadjuvant?

[Julie2]

I read an article which syas if Taxol is given as Neoadjuvant, it releases more cancer cells into the blood and causes metastasis(sp?) later. I am realy worried by this info as I took Taxol neoadjuvantly. Did anybody take Taxol like this? and please let me know how you are doing now?

thanks,
Julie

[tousled1]

I didn't have Taxol but I had A/C then Taxatere neoadjunctly. Then surgery, herceptin and radiation. I'm due to finish my year of Herceptin in June and so far I'm doing fine. Taxol and Taxatere are both Taxanes.

[Mary Jo]

Hi Julie,

I had taxol in an adjuvent setting. I had my pet/ct scan, MRI of both breasts and chest x-ray first to determine if cancer had spread. It had not. Then went on to having right breast and 2 sent. nodes removed. Four weeks later started dose dense chemo. 4 A/C followed by taxol and herceptin. Herceptin received every 3 weeks for 1 full year.

Mary Jo

P.S. Does neoadjuvent mean chemo before surgery and adjuvent means after surgery, correct???????

[MJo]

I had taxol and herceptin as adjuvant treatment after completing A/C. This information, if true, is disturbing. Everything I read claimed that Taxol intensified Herceptin's ability to destroy Her2 cancer cells. Do you have a link to the article?

[tousled1]

Neo-adjunct is chemotherapy received before surgery and adjunct chemotheraphy is chemo received after surgery. The purpose of neo-adjunct chemo is to try and shrink large tumors before surgery.

[Mary Jo]

Thank you Kate. That's what I thought. So then yes, I did have adjuvent therapy as I had my surgery first.

Enjoy your day.

Mary Jo

[MJo]

Thanks. I also had adjuvant. Didn't know the difference. I located an article that said German researchers found that when taxol attacks the tumor in neo adjuvant, the tumor releases cells into the bloodstream. It sounds like cells running away from a fire!!! A women in my support group was stage 3 and got neo-adjuvant to shrink her tumors before surgery. She got A/C (adriamycin/cytoxan) , then taxol and Herceptin concurrently. I wonder if this chemo this cocktail lessens the risk of the cell release. Her tumors shrunk down to nothing before her surgery.

[tousled1]

Regarding Taxol/Taxatere in the neo-adjunct setting (before surgery) I think that Taxol is used for ER/PR+ and Taxatere is used for ER/PR-.

[Penny]

I had taxatere and I am triple positive, I also had TAC all together, when most people seem to have had the AC, then the T.

[PatS]

I had A/C followed by Taxotere, both neoadjuvantly, ending in Jan. 2003. I'm er/pr+ and her2+++, so I don't think that makes a difference in which drug (taxol vs. taxotere) is chosen. I read the same report and it worries me too but I had a large tumor close to the chest wall so really had no choice but to do neoadjuvant chemo. So, what's done is done and I try not to worry. Julie, I think since you had chemo after your mastectomy in addition to the neoadjuvant chemo this would help take care of any stray cells that may have been released, if the report is accurate.

Pat

[tousled1]

Taxotere requires less premed than Taxol but Taxotere has more side effects than Taxol. Also you may want to look at this article from breastcancer.org that compares Taxotere to Taxol. The newer taxane Abraxane is reported to be better than either Taxotere or Taxol.

http://www.breastcancer.org/research_taxotere_000903a.html

We can all sit here and wonder and second guess the decisions that have been made for our treatment. I think the main thing we have to keep in mind is that we are here posting no matter what our treatment is/was. We must also try and stay vigilant about new drug therapies so that we can make informed decisions. I have found that since my initial diagnosis I am now more infomred and now able to have more input into my course of treatment. The most importnat thing I'm trying to say is, what works for one individual may not work for another. We are all different - none of us has the exact same diagnosis. Our common link here is that we are all HER2 positive, which with all the research that is being done gives us an advantage.