['lizbeth]

Laurie and Frank,

I would think Laurie would have a tough time getting approved for a serum Her2 test at her early stage of breast cancer. Most doctors balk at off label tests and treatments that are not approved standard of care. Metastic breast cancer patients however would be more likely to use this test.

I did note that Laurie, you are ER+. This opens you up to more testing to show the aggressiveness of your cancer.

MammaPrint, the first assay to be cleared at the 510(k) level by the US FDA's new in vitro diagnostic multivariate index assay classification, is offered as a prognostic test for women under the age of 61 years with either estrogen receptor-positive or -negative, lymph node-negative breast cancer. Unlike the Oncotype DX assay (Genomic Health, CA, USA), this test requires freshly prepared tissues collected into an RNA preservative solution. The 70 genes that comprise the MammaPrint assay are focused primarily on proliferation with additional genes associated with invasion, metastasis, stromal integrity and angiogenesis.

That was from a PubMed article. There is also another test for ER+.

Personally I would have preferred to do only Herceptin. I had a few positive nodes and was 44 at the time of diagnosis. So I had to add a Taxane to my treatment.

You can get more information from Mammaprint on the genetics of your tumor and more precise information on how aggressive it is.

If you add chemotherapy, and you do paclictaxel there have been a couple studies that show it is much more effective given weekly than every 3 weeks.

Also, Lani, our unofficial Her2 Support "information officer" recently posted information that 90 percent of breast cancer patients who receive Herceptin will be disease free at 5 years. This information came from a study in China.

Only a 10% chance overall of having a recurrence in 5 years with Herceptin. That is actually really fantastic news. And within the next 5 years more treatments will become available and those statistics will improve again.

However, if you'd like to join a clinical trial for one of the cancer vaccines after Herceptin you will have an even greater reduction in the chance of recurrence.

You will do great. Don't worry unnecessarily.