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Well, wouldn't any adriamycin history may be helpful in a small way, in that if the heart stayed strong with completion of the original doxycycline that is an indicator of sorts, along with any "lifetime limit" or cumulative amount of Adriamycin one should have. And a MUGA or echo now could help too.
I'm sure it isn't as simple as I'd like to believe it is, but what I find so sad is the lack of any open discussion about early-stage survivors who have not yet recurred after doing chemo, since the whole idea behind the Herceptin clinical trials is to find a way to effectively reduce recurrence in early-stage bc survivors.
There are a pile of people that I can see who might benefit from such a discussion:
1) Those who weren't tested for HER2
2) Those whose chemo didn't include Adriamycin even though they were HER2+ (if they weren't avoiding Adriamycin because of serious heart problems)
3) Those who chose not to do chemo at all based on no improvement in survival
4) Those who are at the most risky edge of "early stage" and whose heart looks fine on MUGA or echo
If "no more than 6 months out" applies I hope someone here can provide a more complete explanation.
A.A.
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