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Old 08-18-2009, 03:42 PM   #7
DianneS
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 327
Re: Aromatase Inhibitors/Weakly ER +

Hi Robind,

I am reading from the information for patients that was inside the boxes of Arimidex that I received in June. It says: ' Arimidex...has been approved with conditions. Approval is based on study results from patients taking Arimidex as adjuvant treatment for a median followup of 68 months. In this ongoing study, further followup of patients will be required to verify clinical benefit. Arimidex has been approved for the hormonal treatment of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women.'

It goes on to say: 'What is a Notice of Compliance with Conditions'? (NOC/c)? An NOC is a form of market approval granted to a product on the basis of PROMISING evidence of clinical effectiveness following review of the submission by Health Canada." It goes on a bit more so I won't type all of it, but it ends by saying 'Health Canada has provided access to this product on the condition that sponsors carry out additional clinical trials to verify the anticipated benefit within an agreed upon time frame'.

My concern, again, is - I don't want to be a guinea pig. This product is still in the proving grounds stage. Many women have opted to not take AI's and have gone on with no recurrence. It may or may not prove beneficial, but my body has been through quite enough!

Also I was not diagnosed with 'advanced breast cancer' - as mentioned in the first paragraph, so why would I be given this product?
__________________
Three years and 5 months NED
Dx: Aug 2008 right breast IDC with 50% of tumor DCIS, Stage II or IIA, tumor size: 2.1 cm
Grade 3
8/9 Richardson/Bloom test
ER+ weakly positive
Alred Score: 4 (suggesting I would strongly benefit from hormone therapy)
PR-,
HER2 positive +++
No vascular invasion
No lymph nodes involved
Surgery: Sept. 9, 2008 -Modified radical mastectomy, right breast. I chose to have a simple mastectomy on the left. Began Taxotere/Carboplatin/Herceptin November, 2008. Finished T/C March 2009. Finished #16 Herceptin Sept. 09. AI's and Tamoxifen made me sick. Began natural Tamoxifen which is Quercetin, I3C and a combo of other supplements. I am also a DES Daughter. There is now a link between DES exposure in utero and breast cancer!
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