FinHer used nine weeks, but that was nine weeks of herceptin with chemo and a fairly small study which did not compare those nine-weeks to a year of herceptin. There have been a number of small trials using herceptin only during chemo with excellent results, but a big trial needs to be done before anything definitive can be said.
The HERA trial (herceptin after chemo) did have a one year arm and a two year arm, but the announcement of the results from year two keep on getting pushed back. I vaguely remember somebody being told by a top oncologist that he would not give her a second year because the results of year 2 weren't that great, but I cannot find that. All I can find is this from the very informed Becky:
http://www.her2support.org/vbulletin...highlight=HERA
I am a bit suspicious about the 2 year arm. I can't help but think that if it were a good result compared to 1 year that they would be shouting it from the roof tops now. I think that the 2 year results had been expected in 2006, but last I heard there wouldn't be a result coming out until 2008. Furthermore, the trial size was increased a few years ago, which is usually a sign that a trial needs more numbers to boost the chance of statistical significance, but the one year arm clearly didn't need a result because the results were very strong, so a lacklustre 2 year arm would be my bet.
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