Whose MO is cutting them back to six months of Herceptin?

Anonymous

Whose MO is cutting them back to six months of Herceptin?

Ingerp

I know we probably all read about the recent research suggesting that six months of Herceptin is as effective as twelve but I’m curious if MOs are actually changing their protocol already. Mine is attending an ASCO conference in August and said she will look at the data herself and decide then if she’s going to make the change for her patients.

Leatherette

I asked my MO if I could stop my herceptin right after that study came out. At that point I was 9 months in. He thought the study was good, and said yes. When I went for my 3 month check last week, he said that the department was moving to the 6 month protocol for early stage.

Ingerp

Thanks, Leatherette. Funny, but as much as I had to be convinced to do chemo/Herceptin, once I mentally got there, I find I'm not particularly eager to cut it short. Doing another six months of every-three-weeks doesn't seem that much of a burden, and I feel like I'd like to do the full year even if there's only a small additional benefit. It's almost like I think I'd have to be convinced *not* to do the full year. Weird—I wish we weren't in the initial cohort of a potential change in protocol. I wish the research had come out several years ago and six months had been the standard for a while.

wlo002

I have the same thinking Ingerp. I'm leary of new data. My MO hasn't said for sure either way yet...in fact, we still have Perjeta in the conversation, too.

astyanax66

So, I was very excited to read the Persephone study (Helena Earl from Cambridge) that showed non-inferiority of 6 months vs 12 months of Herceptin. About this time, my MO left, and I've had to wait to be assigned a new one. However, my NP did some checking and said that at the moment, a year will remain the standard. Herceptin hasn't been the cakewalk I was told it would be. That doesn't mean I'm ungrateful or that I'm going to stop. But with the side effects I'm having, even knowing I could get the same advantages at, say, 9 months (and not have to pay a whole new deductible for 2019) would be okay with me. My Her2+ was just barely over the line, and my subtype is Luminal B. But yes, Ingerp and others, wish we were not the ones at the beginning of the possible change in practice....

Dee

Becca953

I was also wondering, but I saw that this was one study that showed 6 months was not inferior. However, previous studies had also been done and they did not have the same results. I think one was a French study, and another was in Europe as well.

Ingerp, I am on board with your thinking. It is a bit of reassurance that I find comforting to continue.