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Welcome to the Breast Cancer Forum! This forum is for questions and support regarding breast cancer issues such as: Breast Biopsy,Genetics, Chemotherapy, Hormone Therapy, Lumps, Lumpectomy, Lymph node dissection, Lymphedema, Mammograms, Mastectomy, Radiation Therapy, Reconstruction, Self Breast Exam, Surgery.
Questions posted in the Breast Cancer Forum are being answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic.
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| oceanblue 12/29/2003 | . | My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in '99. She had a lump on her chest wall. She had a lumpectomy preformed. She received 4 cycles of chemo (Taxol) every 15 days and radiation therapy for 6 weeks. After this treatment she was NED for 2 years. Then on Nov. 2001 she was diagnosed with IBC. From then until this day she is still undergoing treatment. Her onc. switched her from Tamoxifen to Femara. Then started her on Lupron injections. Stopped Femara and Lupron and tried Falsodex. ER/PR+ Nov. 01 Adriamycin and Taxol. Jan. 02 Taxol Only April 02 Port-a-cath Inserted April 02 and Taxotere and Mitoxantrone May 02 Aredia for bone mets June 02 Stopped Chemo Sept. 02 Fluorouracil cream for skin mets Sept. 02 Halotestin Pills Nov. 02 Herceptin Only March 03 Navelbine + Herceptin April 03 Xeloda chemo pills April 03 Gemzar + Herceptin May 03 Low Dose Radiation for skin mets for 1 month July 03 Cytoxan + Herceptin Oct. 03 Carboplatin + Herceptin Nov. 03 Iressa chemo pills My mother is currently on Iressa chemo pills, Aredia Monthly, Herceptin biweekly, Miltex cream for skin mets Recently we found out that she has 2 spots on her liver and 1 spot in her brain. On Jan 5th she will undergo Fractionated Stereotactic Radiotherapy for the brain tumor. And later on in Jan. she will have Stereotactic radiofrequency ablation for the 2 spots on her liver. My question: What is the most effective treatment of mets to the brain? If after she has the FSR done and it only shrinks the tumor in her brain and grows back, then what? Thank You. |
| CCF-RN,MSN-JS 12/29/2003 | oceanblue | Dear oceanblue, The goals of treatment of metastatic breast cancer are to control the disease and symptoms. Metastasis to the brain can be treated with surgery or more often with radiation therapy. Chemotherapy is not used to treat the brain metastasis because, many of the chemotherapy drugs that are used to treat breast cancer cannot cross the body's blood-brain barrier and so cannot get to the tumor in the brain to treat the cancer. Stereotactic radiation therapy is targeted directly to the specific brain lesion. What is hoped is that all of the tumor cells are killed with the targeted radiation therapy. What could be done if this was not effective would depend on such things as location of tumor, and type and dose of the prior radiation. |
| KeepOnSwimming 2/3/2004 C2 | . | My mom also has IBC and last week we found out she has 8 metastisized brain tumors (small). We just started whole brain radiation - is there any other options we can take? It is only in her brain and we heard Stereotactic radiofrequency ablation might be an option. Are there any clinical studies for that that we may be eligible for - or even to begin treatment? Thanks. |
| Luralorene 2/13/2004 C3 | . | I don't know the specifics of my friend's breast cancer now found in the brain but she just (today) got a port put into her skull and received her 1st chemo while in surgery. I'm sorry I don't know the type of chemo either. I am going to email her about the stereotactic radiofrequency abaltion. It is in her liver and bones too. I just finished chemo and am doing radiation for breast cancer. It is a little hard not to get scared. | [Thread closed to new comments] |
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