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Metastatic Breast Cancer Questions about advanced metastatic breast cancer. |
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| 3/25/2012 | Hello I have a close relative who is diagnosed with HER2 type breast cancer. She was treated with Herceptin initially but the cancer has returned. We are also told that the cancer might have spread to her liver. Currently she is undergoing regular Chemotherapy. The patient is in India and is not in a position to travel to the U.S. Would appreciate if you could let us know what other treatment options available in addition to Herceptin and Chemo to treat this type of cancer. Also do you have partnership with any hospital in India where the patient can go and get a second opinion? Thank you very much. | ||
| Replied | JHU's Breast Center Reply | ||
| 3/25/2012 | We do not at this time have any partnerships with cancer centers in India. Thanks for supporting your relative through what is no doubt a tough time. There are many many treatments for breast cancer including breast cancer that has spread to other organ sites. There isn't a way however to respond via an email to tell you what types of treatments she may benefit from. A biopsy should be done of where the cancer has spread to (for example of the cancer has gone to the liver) and the prognostic factors of HER2 and hormone receptors should be tested because sometimes (1 in 5) the tumor that was originally HER2 positive might now be negative. The same with hormone receptors for estrogen and progesterone. so inquire if this has been done yet. it is important in planning her treatment. When cancer recurs as stage IV breast cancer the mission is control and no longer cure. They can't use the same chemo drugs she originally had but can use a variety of chemo drugs that likely she has not received in the past. If the cancer is still HER2 positive there are some other drugs specific for HER2 positive metastatic cancers that might be considered at some point too. | ||
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