Lung mets suspected. I need info and support

[Monica]

Hi Linda,
You and I seem to be in a very similar place. I just found I have a small subpleural nodule of 5mm in my left lung - . At this point, I don't know that it's mets but I'm trying to prepare for the worst. I was stage IIA, ER+ and finished herceptin in June 2005. I haven't been on tamoxifen because it seems to trigger my MS, although I tried numerous times.

I have read that if you have one lung met, removing it has shown good results. I'm also wondering if I could get tykerb since herceptin/taxol seemed to not have worked. I have no idea whether that's a possibility.

I hope for both of us it turns out to be benign.

Best,
Monica

[heblaj01]

Linda,
You are right:Avastin is not yet approved for metastatic BC since Genentech
application for approval by the FDA is on hold until the manufacturer supplies more info on safety & efficacy based on the results of the clinical trials.
This may delay approval by about 12 months as commented in this press release:
http://www.gene.com/gene/news/press-...etail&id=10007

Monday, Sep 11, 2006
Genentech Receives Complete Response Letter From FDA for Avastin in Metastatic Breast Cancer

Your onc may nevertherless be willing to prescribe Avastin off label if he feels the clinical trials showed good outcomes.

[Ceesun]

Hello Linda, I was diagnosed with a single lung met this past August. It showed up on a cat scan and then appeared barely active on a pet scan, but my onc ordered a lung needle biopsy which was not a difficult procedure to my surprise. It was determined to be bc about 1 centimeter so my doc put me in a clinical trial of herceptin/navelbine and xeloda-after 2 cycles it has gotten smaller. My oncologist did not want me to have surgery as I had already had lung surgery for a benign, non breast cancer issue but had complications from that surgery. He said he would treat with chemo whether or not I had surgery so that is where I am. I had been on herceptin for 9 months-although I was 20 months done with chemo when I started herceptin. Hope this helps-good luck Ceesun