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Breast Cancer (Expert Forum)
Is Herceptin injections for a year typical these days?
Questions posted in the Breast Cancer Forum are answered by medical professionals from The Cleveland Clinic. Topics include Breast Biopsy, Chemotherapy, Hormone Therapy, Lumps, Lumpectomy, Lymph node dissection, Lymphedema, Mammograms, Mastectomy, Radiation Therapy, Reconstruction, Self Breast Exam, and Surgery.
Is Herceptin injections for a year typical these days?
by TATDEL, Sep 29, 2005 12:00AM
I am starting chemo tomorrow. I’ll get 4 x AC every 3 weeks and 12 x TAXOL with Herceptin every week. Then I’ll be on Herceptin every 3 weeks for a year. When my doctor told me this protocol, I was very surprised, as I thought that the treatment would take about 6 months. Is it normal these days to have such a long treatment for stage II of the breast cancer?
My diagnosis is as follow:
Invasive Ductal Carcinoma in SITU. The tumor size was 4mm, two sentinel nodes were positive with microscopic invasion. Positive for estrogen receptor, HER2/NEW status is positive.
My diagnosis is as follow:
Invasive Ductal Carcinoma in SITU. The tumor size was 4mm, two sentinel nodes were positive with microscopic invasion. Positive for estrogen receptor, HER2/NEW status is positive.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-RN,MSN-rf, Sep 30, 2005 12:00AM
Dear TATDEL: When chemotherapy is given in the postoperative setting for invasive early breast cancer it typically lasts approximately 3 to 6 months. Four cycles of every 3-week AC chemotherapy followed by 12 weekly Taxol treatments does take approximately 6 months. Herceptin, which is a monoclonal antibody treatment, is now frequently incuded in the postoperative treatment when the cancer is found to have overexpression of Her2/neu. Although the optimal duration of Herceptin treatment in this situation is not known, the relevant clincal trials that have been reported to date have administered the Herceptin for about 1 year. Hormonal therapy, which is generally recommended in hormone receptor positive breast cancer, usually lasts at least 5 years.
Member Comments (1)
by urmila46, May 21, 2008 11:03PM
A related discussion, stage 4 carcinoma breast and treatment. was started.
