What Chemo for ILC

 Just FEMARA. no chemo IV's. Not sure why!

I had taxotere and cytoxan,and it killed all my cancer in both breasts!!!!!!!I am 3 weeks out from my bilateral mastectomies,I have no cancer in my body and i am blessed!

I had 6 rounds of TC Jan - May 2007.  I had a 7.5cm tumor that was multi-focal.  At the time, I think many women had AC/T, however my Onc didn't want to risk my heart so chose TC.  I know most women have 4 treatments, and the last 2 were really tough, but looking back, I'm glad I had it. 

I was also stage IIb with one positive node and did dose dense AC X 4 followed by Taxol X 4 that was from Nov 05 to Mar 06.  I then removed my ovaries and am on Femara.  So far so good.

I was given 4 rounds of A/C and 4 rounds of Taxol in 2000 for my stage 2 IDC, not knowing at the time that I also had a ILC in the other breast. When my stage 3 ILC was finally detected 5 years later in 2005, my onc opted to give me 6 rounds of Taxotere and also put me on oral Xeloda. I started taking Aromasin during rads and have been on it for 2.5 years now. Will be 3 years NED next month.

You never should have started chemo.  More harm than good.  Radiation , surgery and AI(aromatase inibitor).  Read Cristifanilli's papers from MD Andersen.

 I am doing 4 tx of AC. It is a personal decision btw you and your onc. There are many new studies out and hopefully your onc is up-to-date. y onc referred to a confrence she went to and it talked abt the increase of ILC AFTER 5 years- that it expotentiates (sp?) If chemo helps me, great! I don't want to say 'what if...?'

D

jobu,  You are wise to do the AC I think.  It is so hard to know, and I guess there is never a way to know for sure.  We have to trust what we can learn from our doctors, the research, and our intuition.  With Grade 1 and negative nodes, you have every reason to be hopeful.  Thanks for posting here.  We are all cheering for an easy time for you with the AC and a very bright future.

From what I have read (a good bit..), and told by oncologists at Memorial Sloan-K, "they" don't treat Ilc any different than IDC. Just like there is no current interventions (other than Tx's for ER/PR/Her2 +'s), even though there is the 21 gene oncotype test. All that info, and what to do with it? Research moves slower than the government. In the Lit. there is general consensus on "offerring" chemo to node +, pre-men.women, AND those at "high risk"...and set risks based on tumor sizes among other things. (at Dx, IDC's tend to run 1.5 cm's, and ILC's 2.5)

The MSK people want to tx any IDC or ILC >1cm w/ AC-T, or....when you ask intelligent questions, suggest CMF instead. If you still ask questions/ insist on oncotyping- you find out that depending on the results of that, only 25% would be "recommended" to have AC-T, 55% would be randomized to TAM only or CMF followed bt TAM, and 30%- only TAM, as there are questions about Tx of early stage, node neg. CA of either type, with any chem, if the oncotype is 11-25.

I guess I was more concerned about chemo s/e's and being a guinea pig, than the chance that the chemo would help. Just got Rx for TAM only. My onco was 18.

I did dose dense AC in August - September 08, followed by 32 sessions of radiation and am now on Arimidex. I had a MUGA scan first showing my heart to be strong so the oncologist felt that the adriamycin would be safe. I asked why he recommended AC only and not AC-T, and he said it was because the taxanes are more likely to cause neuropathy, and I already had some unrelated history of neuropathies, and because he felt that an aromatase inhibitor would have the same impact on recurrence rate as the taxanes.

The AC wasn't as bad as I thought it would be -- hair loss was hard, but it's now growing back nicely. At the very end I did have bad blistering on the soles of my feet, which was an atypical side effect for AC, but I was probably walking more than most patients -- about 25 miles a week on the off weeks between treatments, and about 15 miles on treatment weeks. Some of my toenails got pretty weird and still look funny but that's pretty minor.

Francine, My case is similar to yours, ILC, 1 cm, with the exception that I am PR+ and had a 0.3cm mass in one lymph node (a tiny bit bigger than a micromet).  I am meeting with a world renound expert oncologist here in Chicago on the 16th.  I am going to push for an oncotype to help judge what treatment might be best.  I'll let you know what he says.

TAC 03/07 - 08/07

LindaLou -  I am responding to your post because yours is the first mention I've seen of both IDC and ILC combined.  As you can see from my signature, I was first diagnosed as IDC after a surgical biopsy, but after lumpectomy to get clear margins + SNB - the pathology reported 2 other sites where invasive lobular (very tiny 2mm + 4 mm) were found - plus the affected nodes were found to have ILC, not IDC.  I just learned this today, so am searching to find others with a smilar DX and try to understand what it means for treatment and outcomes.  Any input is welcome!

 Bonnie

I am confused by all the abbreviations and drug names.  I did dose dense cytoxin, epirubicin and abraxane for 4 cycles.  Are any of these the same drugs you all are talking about? 

I'm wondering what BonnieKJG decided for treatment.  I had a bilateral mastectomy last week for cancer in both breasts.  Left had IDC as well as DCIS and LCIS.  Right had ILC in three quadrants and LCIS throughout the breast.  The largest carcinoma was 1 cm.  I'm told staging is based on the largest carcinoma found, but I'm a little concerned since there were multiple ILCs as well as LCIS throughout the right breast, and the total area of ILCs was much larger.   I also wonder if the IDC in the left should have been staged separately since it's a different kind of cancer.   I'm meeting with an oncologist next month to go over treatment options.  I've read a little about the studies showing ILC doesn't respond to chemo, but I also had IDC in the left.  Both carcinomas were ER+/ PR+ and HER2-.