what is typical these days?

ravdeb

I have a friend with IDC, stage 2, 2 nodes pos, er+ and her2 neg and a tumor that is  1.5 cm. her onc says surgery and tamoxifin will do the trick. Since I'm a triple neg, could you give me info on what would be typical treatment for her? not sure she did oncotype... thanks!

Leah_S

ravdeb, my onc told me that I'll be getting tamox for 2 1/2 years and then switch to an aromitase inhibitor. It's partly political  (tamox is in the "basket of services" and AI's are not) and partly medical. I read that this combination is shown in some studies to be more effective than either tamox for 5 years or AI's for 5 years.

Not sure if oncotype is done here. I don't think I had it and my onc was very open about everything that was done and why.

Best of luck to yur friend. If she's an English-speaker tell her to come here.

Leah

London-Virginia

In the UK, due to the positive nodes, your friend would be given Chemo.

Very best wishs to both you and your friend for a good outcome - 

bluedasher

If I'm reading the NCCN guidelines right, they say that ER+ HER2- with positive nodes should get chemo plus endocrine (hormone) therapy. That applies where the cancer in the nodes was greater than 2 mm. If nodes were negative, then it depends on Oncotype.

Leah_S

That might be why I didn't have oncotype. My onc said that in the facility I use (Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem) they call a node "involved" if it is 2mm or more, and I had 6. Ravdeb, where is your friend being treated?

Leah

hollyann

hmmm  I would think where she had 2 nodes involed that she would do chemo also......Never heard of only surgery and Tamoxifen for node positive bc...As for the OncotypeDx test , that is for node negative bc only based on the premise that all node positive bc gets chemo..........Makes me wonder if docs ar experimenting again to see ifbc will stay in remission with only surgery and Tamoxifen....Sheesh  I hate feeling like guinea pig!.......

ravdeb

interesting... this is what i thought..that she should get chemo for the positive nodes..

Leah..I am not sure where she is being treated..she's actually a friend of a friend of a friend type thing.... I didn't really know that oncotype wasn't even mentioned for those with node positive. Brings to light a few things. Am always of the opinion that a second, third or 4th opinion is needed in many cases (which is what i did when i was diagnosed.

thanks ladies!

FLtricia

I had IDC 1.5 cm tumor, ER/PR+ HER-, no node involvement.  At first they said no chemo, then onco score was 23 (grey zone) and he left it up to me, saying if it were him, he'd do chemo.

I did chemo.

Member_of_the_Club

I know a woman in israel who had similar stats and she had the aggressive dose-dense chemo, so I don't think this is even the standard of care for Israel.

SoCalLisa

I would say because of the size of her tumor and the positive nodes chemo will be offered to her...

and if she is post menopausal, an aromatase inhibitor...if she has a lumpectomy and not a mastectomy  rads are in order too...

Leah_S

Ravdeb, I agree that another opinion is a good idea - two positive nodes and no treatment post-op other than tamox sounds iffy to me.

Sent you a pm.

Leah