Months Time to Progression

[julierene]

Study Results
Women taking lapatinib plus chemotherapy benefited more overall than women taking a placebo plus chemotherapy. Median progression-free survival, or the time women went without their cancer growing, was 7.9 months for the combination group, compared to 5.2 months for the group that took chemotherapy alone.
Women in the combination group responded to treatment for a median of 7.4 months, compared to 5.5 months for the placebo group. In the combination group, treatment lessened the presence of disease in 60 percent of women, compared to 36 percent in the placebo group.

http://www.lbbc.org/content/news/com...y&auid=3059530

Does this trouble anyone else? I am on this treatment for 2 months extra? It seems almost worthless in how it is presented - to even be on this treatment. Ugh! I'm taking Tykerb and Xeloda, but shesh.... Is this what I have to look forward to? 2 more extra months?

Then you see this:

In a study of 321 women, all with advanced breast cancer who tested positive for HER2, 160 who received Tykerb with Xeloda had no cancer growth for 36.9 weeks. The other 161 women who were on Xeloda alone experienced no cancer growth for just 19.7 weeks. The trial was stopped so that the women who were not taking Tykerb could do so if they wished.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/44505.php

Which way is it?

[Sandy in Silicon Valley]

Hi, Julierene,

Here's another reference I found, from last year. Each research design is going to invariably come up with different stats - depending on the subjects selected (the study I'm referencing used patients who'd been heavily treated for bcmets prior to going on the Tykerb + Xeloda, or Xeloda alone, arms of the study.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...1/ai_n16621413

The other thing to keep in mind is that the time-to-progression (or recurrence interval) ISN"T about survival rates (like staying alive an extra 2 months, or double the amount of time) - it's about the time before the bcmets were detected to be multiplying, or moving to another organ. That doesn't necessarily affect survival rate - each progression can then get treatment - usually chemo and/or radiation and/or surgery, and sometimes, the "right"/ most effective treatment is found (usually by trial and error, unfortunately - we have few means to detect which chemo will work for whom).

Does DOUBLE the time-to-recurrence rate sound better to you? "Dr. Charles E. Geyer Jr. reported the median time to progression was 37 weeks for 160 women treated with the two-drug combination, but only 20 weeks for 161 women given capecitabine alone." That's still only a 4 month statistical average of difference in time to progression for those on the Tykerb along with Xeloda. Still, the fewer treatments we "use up" in the course of advanced bc, the more chance we have of still having an array to try, and thus still finding one that works really effectively. To me, it sounds like a worthwhile trade-off - especially since the Tykerb seems to curb brain mets, which few-if-any of the other treatments do!

(((hugs)))
Sandy in Silicon Valley

[tousled1]

Julierene,

Please don't let the statistics upset you. You must keep in mind that Tykerb is a new drug therapy and is still in clinicial trials. I don't think anyone can at this point in time give an accurate prediction of how long to progression any chemo drug will give. Each and every one of us reacts differently to each drug. We women - Tykerb and Herceptin - are writing history. Don't get discouraged. You may be one of the women who has a complete remission to the combo. Hang in there.

[hutchibk]

I have very purposefully shunned anything that looks like a statistic every since this journey began... stats like that don't apply to the real person in treatment. If stats like that were gospel, then we wouldn't have any of the truly inspirational women on this site who are many years beyond what the stats seem to say.

[Lala]

There are no crystal balls that can accurately predict the future. So why bother reading statistics I say. The bottom line is we are all very different and Tykerb is still breaking ground in combination with other drugs. Hang in there.