New Her2 Testing Guidelines

[aaklwalker]

I was at MD Anderson a couple of weeks ago and the doctor told me there were new testing guidelines for her2+ that came out in February. He said that there are borderline positives who should be treated as negatives after more sensitive FISH tests are done. Is anyone familiar with the report? I believe it outlines what borderline is and discusses the fact that Herceptin and Tykerb won't have an effect on these patients.

[Esther]

That's what i had been hearing all along...that if you were not her2+++ a more sensitive fish test should be used to determine if Herceptin might be of benefit.

I first heard this about 3 years ago, so the guidelines would make sense.

[tousled1]

Everything I read since being diagnosed said that if you were tested by IHC and scored 2+ you should be retested by FISH.

Joe just posted an article on HER2 testing the other day and here is the link:
http://www.her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=27338

[mcgle]

I was told that even though I am IHC2+ and weakly FISH+ (2.71), herceptin would only have given me a 0.8% benefit. Chemo would have added another 0.8% benefit, which is why neither was prescribed.

Only time will tell if this advice was right.

Mcgle (UK)

[cocquk2]

I was at my oncologist on Tues and heard the same thing.If i had come into his office last year he would know how to treat me. Because i'm borderline Her2 now he needs to talk to other specialists.So i wait...2steps forward one step back.Kathy

[KellyA]

I wonder if the rates for effectiveness with Herceptin will rise if some of the borderline patients are not treated? Does this make sense? Doesn't Herceptin work for roughly 50% of people now? Is that including borderline her2s?Love, Kelly

[Joe]

There are several presentations here, halfway down the page..left hand side

http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF685257283004FFA05?OpenDocument&id=BD4042E74FA3B20985256E580042AF58&c=&count=10#


Regards
Joe