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Lani · 08-11-2006, 09:55 PM

Why don't you go to Stanford for a second opinion. They are always faced with the most difficult cases that other people don't know what to do with.
Their radiation therapy department pioneered the field of radiation therapy and their radiation therapists are specialized ie, one does almost exclusively lymphoma, another almost exclusively head and neck cancer, etc.

They are only a 50 minute plane ride away.

If you don't get radiation therapy, it only increases your chance of local recurrence and only by a few percentage ie it may decrease its chance of coming back from say 3% to 5%--which when they present it is that it decreases its chance of coming back by 40%!!!! Radiation therapy has NOT been shown to affect survival and hardly, IF AT ALL, influences its chance of distal metastasis.

Your real decision with respect to your survival is your choice of antihormonals. Drs. Spector and Bacus published a paper in which they present findings implying that herceptin resistance can develop because of increased signalling through the ER pathway.

Theoretically fulvestrant may be best for this, but it is only used in the metastatic setting. It seems the other AIs should all work about the same (theoretically) but trials comparing them are still not done/finished.

In the meantime, what you might consider is that NSAIDS like naprosyn, clinoril, etc have been shown to have antiaromatase (and antiangiogenic) effects and some do not even require a prescription. A discussion of this
information with your oncologist could not hurt.

I know it is hard, but if you try spend your "worry energy" in pursuing information, you may end up feeling a bit more in control in a siuation which often feels out of control. I have seen it help others.

Hope this helps!

08-11-2006, 09:55 PM	#10
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,782	Chelee Why don't you go to Stanford for a second opinion. They are always faced with the most difficult cases that other people don't know what to do with. Their radiation therapy department pioneered the field of radiation therapy and their radiation therapists are specialized ie, one does almost exclusively lymphoma, another almost exclusively head and neck cancer, etc. They are only a 50 minute plane ride away. If you don't get radiation therapy, it only increases your chance of local recurrence and only by a few percentage ie it may decrease its chance of coming back from say 3% to 5%--which when they present it is that it decreases its chance of coming back by 40%!!!! Radiation therapy has NOT been shown to affect survival and hardly, IF AT ALL, influences its chance of distal metastasis. Your real decision with respect to your survival is your choice of antihormonals. Drs. Spector and Bacus published a paper in which they present findings implying that herceptin resistance can develop because of increased signalling through the ER pathway. Theoretically fulvestrant may be best for this, but it is only used in the metastatic setting. It seems the other AIs should all work about the same (theoretically) but trials comparing them are still not done/finished. In the meantime, what you might consider is that NSAIDS like naprosyn, clinoril, etc have been shown to have antiaromatase (and antiangiogenic) effects and some do not even require a prescription. A discussion of this information with your oncologist could not hurt. I know it is hard, but if you try spend your "worry energy" in pursuing information, you may end up feeling a bit more in control in a siuation which often feels out of control. I have seen it help others. Hope this helps!