Afinitor Trial for Stage 2

cindysmom

I just started the clinical trial of Afintor/Letrozole just wondering if anyone else is doing the same. How your feeling and when to expect any side effects.

Peregrinelady

Hi Cindy, can you tell us more about this trial? Is it for people with positive nodes or high oncotype? Just curious as I haven’t seen anything like this for ER positive stage 2, just Xeloda for triple negative. Thanks for any info you have.

cindysmom

It it a year long double blind trial for stage2 breast cancer. Because I felt I had a high risk of it coming back my onc suggested this trial you don't have to be node positive or have a high oncotype. You need to be stage 2, cancer free, er+ and her2-

Peregrinelady

Interesting. If you don’t mind me asking, why do you feel that you are high risk? I noticed that you had a lumpectomy. Did you have radiation? I didn’t have radiation or chemo based on low Oncotype and mastectomy, but then my BCI came back high risk for recurrence, so now I am not sure if should be doing something else, as well.

cindysmom

I had chemo prior to surgery, when they removed the lymph nodes that were involved 1 showed a large amount of cancer 10mm and it was extracapsular. I'm so concerned that it may have traveled between the chemo and surgery. I did have radiation (32 rounds) and I take Letrozole since May 2017. I don't know what a BCI is. I did notice my Nottingham score it said I have a 30% chance of a re ocurence just trying to do everything possible to prevent it.

Peregrinelady

Thanks for responding. I understand now why you might have a little extra concern. Hopefully having the chemo first prevented that spread. The BCI (Breast Cancer Index) is a test similar to Oncotype that looks at a sample of your cancer cells to see if you would benefit from five additional years of antihormonals. In my case the answer was yes. I have noticed that not many people seem to know about it and even my MO didn’t have anything to say about my results. (A different oncologist had ordered the test.). Now they are saying 7 yrs is as good as 10, so I am not sure what I will do when I get there. I think you are smart to be doing this trial and I wish you the best. Hopefully, after the holidays someone else will come along and respond to your post. Happy New Year!