FISH

I have a FISH/CEP 17 ratio of 4.13. What does that mean? I have posted before and don't want to keep "repeating" my story, but I forgot to mention that and am curious as to what it means in relation to my her2-neu 3+ status.

TU

Vicki Z in Calif.

Vicki,
I have a FISH/CEP 17 ratio of 3.5. You're the first person to have this same type of test result. That is the only result I got and I don't know what it means either. I hope someone can help. Thanks. Janet

Hi Janet,

Nice to hear from you, and, yes, hopefully someone can fill us in. I was node negative and 8 out of 9 on the Bloom-Richardson scale and 3+ on her2. I'm in the middle of chemo and this week will change from FAC to Carbo-Taxol and then Herceptin for 12 week.

Wishing you the very best,

Vicki Z in Calif.

Vicki,
I just looked at my path. report again. After the ratio are the words "interpretation: AMPLIFIED" and then there is this explaination:
HER/2/neu gene amplification was determined using the Vysis PathVysion HER2-DNA Probe Kit. The ratio is calculated as the average of HER-2 gene copy number to that of chromosome enumerator probe 17. A ratio greater than 2.0 denotes amplification. If the ratio os less than 2.0, the her2 is not amplified.
Then I went typed in Vysis PathVysion on google and got to their website. There's quite a bit of information there. I gather this FISH test is done differently than other labs doing FISH.
Let's hope someone else can help us more.
Take care,
Janet

Good work, Janet! I don't believe my report was as extensively stated as yours, but it did say that anything over 2.1 was amplification of her2. Hopefully, we'll hear from others, too.

Keep up the fight!

Vicki Z in Calif.