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Phil,
Herceptin is sometimes effective alone, but is most often effective in combo with other chemo's. The deciding factor seems to be the extent to which the cancer is positive for Her2, and there are currently 2 tests in use, IHC and FISH. IHC has a higher ratio of "false positive" results, so FISH is considered the new gold standard for diagnosing Her2 status.
Do you know which method was used to determine your wife's status? If it was IHC, the tumor can be re-tested using FISH; determining the true Her2 status will help direct future therapies.
Since she is ER/PR positive, have the doctors discussed hormone blocking therapies? Some of the other hormone positive women here have had good results with that approach.
Here's a link to a post on our Articles of Interest page to some information comparing IHC and FISH. The Articles of Interest page has lots more links to info about synergistic Herceptin combos, hormone therapies, etc. Hope this helps.
Lolly
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