HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Better outcomes for her2+ hormonal positives....

Lani · 01-12-2009, 02:44 PM

the found a subset of her2+ breast cancer patients( 16% of the total that they studied) with a better prognosis. Of those 16% , 85% were ER+. Since about 50% of her2+ patients are ER+ if this studies IS TRULY REPRESENTATIVE WHICH IS UNCLEAR AS THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS IN THE STUDY WAS ,
then those her2+ ER+ patients make up ~13% of all her2+ patients and ~25% of her2+ER+ patients. The good news is that there is a group of her2+ patients with a much better prognosis even if they don't get treatment. I know AlaskaAngel always worries because she didn't get herceptin and there are others on this board who may not have gotten what is NOW the standard of care (which is certain to continue to change)

(Lots of impetus exists for pursuing this study further exists as herceptin is expensive and governments and insurance companies are trying to figure out if there is any subgroup of her2+ patients for which they could get away without treating them with herceptin)

A small subgroup of her2+ breast cancer patients was identified in this poster with a better prognosis than the majority of her2+ breast cancer patients
and within that subgroup more were ER+ than ER-, but that is different than saying that for all her2+ breast cancer patients ER+ patients have a better prognosis--just wanted to be sure the title didn't mislead

Hope this helps!

01-12-2009, 02:44 PM	#2
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,783	I saw the poster and think your title is misleading the found a subset of her2+ breast cancer patients( 16% of the total that they studied) with a better prognosis. Of those 16% , 85% were ER+. Since about 50% of her2+ patients are ER+ if this studies IS TRULY REPRESENTATIVE WHICH IS UNCLEAR AS THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS IN THE STUDY WAS , then those her2+ ER+ patients make up ~13% of all her2+ patients and ~25% of her2+ER+ patients. The good news is that there is a group of her2+ patients with a much better prognosis even if they don't get treatment. I know AlaskaAngel always worries because she didn't get herceptin and there are others on this board who may not have gotten what is NOW the standard of care (which is certain to continue to change) (Lots of impetus exists for pursuing this study further exists as herceptin is expensive and governments and insurance companies are trying to figure out if there is any subgroup of her2+ patients for which they could get away without treating them with herceptin) A small subgroup of her2+ breast cancer patients was identified in this poster with a better prognosis than the majority of her2+ breast cancer patients and within that subgroup more were ER+ than ER-, but that is different than saying that for all her2+ breast cancer patients ER+ patients have a better prognosis--just wanted to be sure the title didn't mislead Hope this helps!