Adryomicin for Invasive Lobular Anyone?

According to what I've read, Adriamycin works better on HER-2+ than on HER-2 negative. What's your diagnosis?

OK, let's make sure I understand.

TC chemo caused significant regression of tumor prior to surgery. The ductal componenr disappeared, but not all of the lobular. Was the ductal component gone before of after surgery, and was the lobular component entirely removed by surgery?

You have no node involvement, and the cancer was grade 1. Were you Stage I or Stage II?

I wouldn't consider just "being aggressive" a good reason for doing more chemo, espcially if there was growing evidence that it wouldn't work, and if I had another option that probably would 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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Hi jobu,  You are really doing your homework.  That's great, as you will know at the end of treatment that you've done all that you could. Since your surgery is over I don't know if you can do chemosensitivity testing.  Chemosensitivity, as I understand it, needs to be done on the living cells, right after surgery, I assume, but I could be wrong.  I do know that it is very reliable in showing what does NOT work.  It is somewhat less reliable in telling what will work. That is it may indicate sensitivity, but the treatment could fail anyway.  I think it's right in showing sensitivity about 80% of the time.  The oncologist I work with and the second opinion oncologist at UCLA both thought it was worth doing in my case, and it saved me taking a taxane that would not have worked.  I am sure it was correct in showing that AC worked as we had proof of that already.  As far as "proving" it will help, there is no existing treatment other than surgery that is "proven" to help everyone who has breast cancer.

I had the Adrymiacin fo pleomorphic invasive lobular after my Quandrantectomy. I din't have any problems withit except losing my hair. I never felt sick. The Emend I took 1 hr beforehand prevented nausea. Good luck!

PS. Jobu ~

Here we are on Nov. 9th so maybe you've already moved on and decided! But one thing I like with many opinions is listening to the reasons why the doctor recommends one thing over another. Does s/he understand there are things we don't know? Does s/he put the knowables/unknowables in proportion? Is s/he familiar with current work going on around the country and able to evaluate it for you in an understandable way? (As opposed to just saying "I do it this way" or "my research shows promise, theirs is unproven.") Does s/he take your whole life into account, meaning you don't want to kill yourself with the cure either. Look at the numbers of BC survivors who have no recurrence, that's pretty good, and this is mostly Adriamycin altho we don't know which gals it has helped and which it hasn't.

Here's a new thought - how many rounds of Adria would you have to do to see possible shrinkage? Maybe do just those many and evaluate ...

Good luck to you honey! 

Hi jobu,  Whatever you decide, do it and then let it go.  Nobody knows, at this point, what will and won't work.  Everybody is so different and there are just so many variables.  Do your research (don't have to tell you that), listen to the voices that sound the strongest in your heart, then go forward.  It's beyond important to move on, I think.  So much easier said than done though.

I had adryamicin and cytoxan follwed by taxol, all after my quandrantectomy. I am cancer free.