Herceptin holiday at stage IV?

[jellybean]

Hi Emelie,

Congratulations on your new grandchild! I would go for another opinion at a major cancer center. I believe that it is NOT standard of care to discontinue Herceptin in stage IV her2 positive women who are stable on Herceptin. In the US, most stage IV women continue on Herceptin as long as it is working, and in many cases beyond progression. For example, I have been on Herceptin since March 2007. Some on this board have discontinued Herceptin, but this was after many years of stability. It makes sense (I think) for you to have a chemo holiday to allow your ejection fraction to bounce back. But this holiday should not be indefinite. You should continue to have your heart monitored and make a decision for further treatment in light of these results. I think it would be highly unusual for a Her2 positive metastatic woman who is less than a year out from initial treatment for metastatic disease not to be on any treatment at all. Unfortunately, I don't have any studies that support this approach at my fingertips. Hopefully, someone else will chime in.

Best,

JB