HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - what is your risk of brain metastases and what are they recommending you do about it?

Lani · 11-15-2006, 10:25 AM

they more often appear as later metastases after other mets have already appeared, but in a minority of cases (look at my other posts on the matter for previous statistics) they have presented as the initial metastases in what was previously localized or regional disease only (in the breast or regional lymph nodes only)

Again, this report by and large reports the behavior of the disease when NOT treated with herceptin.

Previous posts by me review the fact that her2+ patients treated with herceptin are more likely than those not treated with herceptin to present with brain mets as their initial presentation

THIS PAPER had relatively large numbers of her2+patients (around 300) and all but 30 were not treated with herceptin. In such a setting 9% had brain mets.

It is hard to find these kinds of stats in the literature, particular focusing on her2+ patients.

I try to post them not to alarm people, but to put it in perspective as best we can as knowledge increases. ie, so one can have a meaningful discussion regarding prophylactic MRIs and if they are worth it . This paper
repeated time and again that they are not currently doing propylactic MRIs on these patients--but the paper is from Canada and provincial governments have to set local policies for what can and cannot be done

Hope this helps!

11-15-2006, 10:25 AM	#5
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,783	on a statistical basis they more often appear as later metastases after other mets have already appeared, but in a minority of cases (look at my other posts on the matter for previous statistics) they have presented as the initial metastases in what was previously localized or regional disease only (in the breast or regional lymph nodes only) Again, this report by and large reports the behavior of the disease when NOT treated with herceptin. Previous posts by me review the fact that her2+ patients treated with herceptin are more likely than those not treated with herceptin to present with brain mets as their initial presentation THIS PAPER had relatively large numbers of her2+patients (around 300) and all but 30 were not treated with herceptin. In such a setting 9% had brain mets. It is hard to find these kinds of stats in the literature, particular focusing on her2+ patients. I try to post them not to alarm people, but to put it in perspective as best we can as knowledge increases. ie, so one can have a meaningful discussion regarding prophylactic MRIs and if they are worth it . This paper repeated time and again that they are not currently doing propylactic MRIs on these patients--but the paper is from Canada and provincial governments have to set local policies for what can and cannot be done Hope this helps!