Liver & Sternum mets after FAC, Herceptin, Xeloda, Tykerb
 

Hi,

This is on behalf of my mom:

HER2+++ er/pr-
Rt. Breast Primary 2001 Oct.
Surgery followed by FAC
Mets to Sternum 2004
Treated with Taxol, Herceptin (6 months only) + Rad
Single Brain Met 3cm June 2006
Treated with Gamma Knife (didn't work)
Then surgery Apr 2007 with great success
Started Tykerb 3 weeks ago + Xeloda (500mg x 6) 2 weeks ago

PET Scan last week now shows multiple Liver mets & large lesion on the Sternum has grown back (this is the site of original met). Brain is all clear!

I have been reading the posts and people have talked about Zometa, Taxatere even Xeloda for Liver... any advice?

Have people had success with surgical removal from Liver - particularly when there are multiple mets?

Hanv't met the ONC he's at a conference in London, back in a couple of days... we are out in India.


Any help appreciated....

Thanks,
Suman
(that's mom's name, mine is Sachin)

Here are few other meds that I have heard might help:

Zometa- for bone mets
Avastin and Xeloda trial
Carboplatin and Taxotere (I think)
Sounds like your onc is pretty progressive so I am sure he will put your mom of something helpful.
Take care,
Anne

And Liver mets?
 

Anne, thanks for this. Question on liver mets - Avastin & Xeloda trials is for liver?

Anyone know what the stadard treatment course for liver is?

Thanks,
Sachin

Liver resection
 

Dear Sachin:

It is possible to have a piece of the liver removed, I just had an appointment with onc yesterday and he mentioned that surgery is posible in most cases, and the rate of success is high -90%.. I have mets to sternum as well, since 2003, have been on Navelbine, then Xeloda-did not work-now I am back on navelbine. Just three weeks on Navelbine, reading went down..I wouldn't worry to much about liver, there are a lot of treatment available. Read some of the postings, a lot of our "sisters" are doing well after mets to liver.

Sending you positive vibes and BIG hug to your Mom.

Thank you for being such a good daughter, we really appreciate all the help we can receive, specially from our daughters...

Question
 

Sachin: Did your mom had radiation to the sternum following conventional treatment for bc.?

Bringing this back to the top.
Ladies, please advice what is the best route to take for liver mets.

Sachin -
Hope your Mom is on a treatment by now, as we did not hear back from you.

Resection of liver depends on numerous factors. In my case it was not possible to consider as there were too many tumors (like swiss cheese or buckshot) plus two quite large ones. Even when most of the tumors were no longer visible, the last stubborn ones were at the main hepatic vein and surgeon felt that since I was responding to the chemo that it was better to keep trying with that route.

The drugs that worked for me were a combination on clinical trial of Taxol, Navelbine and Herceptin. It took 27 weekly treatments to put me into remission and NED.

I also changed my diet to be easy on my liver and drank detox teas.

Give the treatment some time. Xeloda has generally been good in treating liver mets, and if she is a responder to the Tykerb, this may be a winning combination for her.

Adriana,

Yes, Mom had 21 days of radiotherapy for the sternum. It had cleared up and was clean for some time - 2 yrs. It seems to react well on chemo. After 3 cycles of Xeloda+Tykerb she is now free of chest pain - so perhaps its working!

THanks
Sachin

Thanks all. The update is like this:

1. Tykerb now nearing 3 months; Xeloda 3 cycles complete
2. The therapy is 21 day per cycle where she has 2 weeks xeloda and then one week break; tykerb continues uninterrupted.
3. Overall she is much better - moving around and looking happier... very concerned, but happy that she has her freedom back... the brain met had put her in bed for a year.
4. Sternum pain has subsided - scan due end of the month, hoping it will be clear.
5. Liver mets were small - 4 in total with largest around 4mm. Has inflicted both lobes and probably few more that we cannot see yet on the PET. With any luck xeloda+tykerb may work magic

Have a few other questions:
1. What blood tests can one perform as an early warning or monitoring in our case? Onc here has not asked us to do any and 3 months between scans is too long?

2. If xeloda+tykerb work on the sternum, any thoughts on adding (or NOT) other bone met durgs?

3. Havn't seen anyone talk about remedy for xeloda side-effects... is there any natural/herbal stuff that helps even a tad?

Thanks again for all your support.