Advice/info needed please for a friend
 

A dear friend of mine has just been dx with breast mets to the stomach. She was originally dx with bc in '94 and had a recurrance in '07 er/pr + her- with clear nodes and a small tumour.
I know this is not very common and so far she does'nt have the full results of the path back but if anyone can provide any info or advice it would be very much appreciated.
As you can imagine, her mind racing right now so I'm trying to help by researching a little on her behalf.
Thanks to anyone that can help.:)

Capecitabine (Xeloda) may have utility here.
Also, the S-1 variation of 5FU seems like it has overlap in BC and gastric cancer. Here is a very recent abstract:
1: Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2009 Mar;18(3):335-48.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml...hley100x25.gif Links
S-1: a promising new oral fluoropyrimidine derivative.

Saif MW, Syrigos KN, Katirtzoglou NA.
Yale University School of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, 333 Cedar Street, FMP 116 New Haven, CT 06520, USA. wasif.saif@yale.edu
The fluoropyrimidine anticancer agent 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is active in a wide range of solid tumors, particularly gastric, colorectal, and head and neck cancers. Whilst infusional 5-FU is associated with higher response rates and a favorable safety profile compared with the classical i.v. bolus administration, prolonged infusions can be inconvenient for the patients, and catheter-related problems are common complications. An oral 5-FU formulation would allow for sustained 5-FU plasma concentrations, mimicking the pharmacokinetics (PK) of a continuous infusion with the addition of convenience of administration. The oral administration of 5-FU itself is not feasible owing to the high activity of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) in the gut wall, which causes rapid metabolism of the drug and results in decreased and erratic absorption of 5-FU and nonlinear PK. To bypass this problem, oral fluoropyrimidine derivatives were developed either in the form of 5-FU prodrugs (i.e., tegafur, doxifluridine or capecitabine), or as enzyme inhibitors (i.e., eniluracil) administered with 5-FU, or as both prodrugs and enzyme inhibitors (i.e., S-1, UFT or BOF-A2). This review focuses on the oral fluoropyrimidine S-1, which consists of the 5-FU prodrug tegafur (ftorafur, FT) and two enzyme inhibitors, CDHP (5-chloro-2,4-dihydroxypyridine) and OXO (potassium oxonate), in a molar ratio of 1(FT):0.4 (CDHP):1(OXO). Phase II trials have demonstrated that S-1, as a single agent, is active for the treatment of gastric, colorectal, head and neck, breast, non-small cell lung, and pancreatic cancers. Phase III trials are currently underway in gastric cancer and these results are awaited to confirm the Phase II findings. Furthermore, the combination of S-1 with cisplatin (CDDP), irinotecan or docetaxel for the treatment of gastric cancer and with CDDP for non-small cell and pancreatic cancer is feasible and active. The activity observed with S-1 in the Phase II studies is at least equivalent to, if not better than, continuous i.v. and bolus 5-FU and the other oral fluoropyrimidines. Thus, we may finally be seeing the realization of oral treatments for the management of various solid tumors and could be on the brink of a new approach to treatment strategies.
PMID: 19243284 [PubMed - in process]

Thanks Rich, I'll pass on that info to her:)

Tricia
I cant offer any advice, but your friend will be in my thoughts and prayers for good news and easy treatment to take care of these mets.

Sheila, thanks for your good wishes, Rich, my friend saw her onc today who actually spoke about using the meds you mentioned in this report so thank you very much again for your help:)