When to consider ending treatment?

[donocco]

This has nothing to due with breast cancer but I see an analogy in terms of stopping treatment. Im thinking of Grand Mal Epilepsy. Nowadays many cases of Epilepsy are caused by brain injuries but often the siezures are idiopathic meaning they just happen without any apparent reason. The patient is put on anticonvulsants and often the siezures are completely controlled. After a number of years of complete seizure control the doctor can very gradually reduce the anti-convulsant drugs and eventually stop them entirely.

In about 65 % of the cases the siezures dont come back but in the 35% of the cases that the seizures do come back the drugs that worked so well before dont work anywhere as well. If a patient is well controlled on meds many docs just keep the patient on the meds for life. It might be a lot safer to stay on the Herceptin. I hope this analogy makes some sense.

Paul