[Jean]

Yes, it is accurate that this last decade newer drugs were introduced. Very rarely, certain chemotherapy drugs can permanently damage the bone marrow, leading to acute myeloid leukemia, a life-threatening cancer of white blood cells. When this happens it is usually within 10 years after treatment. In most women, chemotherapy's benefits in preventing breast cancer from coming back or in extending life are likely to far exceed the risk of this serious but rare complication.

Like everything else we do not have all the answers we seek today or even in the near future. But women have to face making choices today with as much knowledge that is available at the present. It has always been my position that we as bc patients need to empower ourselves so that we make decsions based on knowledge and not fear. The disease in and of itself is very frightening to most who are dx. (esp. newly dx. as they are on a severe learning curve. ) So hearing they may or may not need treatment - and then hearing that you can later be dx. with AML ...while it is true, this could happen, it is not the high numbers that a broad statment of we could get AML would have a women think. The rate that has been tested from 1970 up to 2006 with those current treatments are what we have today to glean. Newer treatment results will be forth coming and that is all we have at this time. So many come to this site to gain information about the disease that is shocking for most to absorb - I would like to keep a realistic balance to the knowledge of choices and risks. Becky put it quite
nicley about the fact that we could also get hit by a bus. This disease takes so much - maybe it is better to not also give it strength in the fear of the unknown.
We don't have the numbers at this time of the newer treatments but we do have the percentage of the previous study to work with.