Chemo before surgery, if your tumor shrunk were you Her2+?

JudyO
JudyO Member Posts: 225

I see a lot of questions regarding chemo for ILC. Several ladies have commented about the chemo they received before surgery shrunk their tumor to nothing or decreased the size some. I am wondering if these women were HER2+. There seems to be a question if the chemo works when you are HER2- . On the HER2- tumors I see some questions regarding the ER status and if it works for the postive tumors...

Comments

  • rickeydoes
    rickeydoes Member Posts: 15
    edited April 2010

    Hi JudyO,   My first scan showed 7cm tumor . Was given chemo first because of the aggressiveness. After the chemo it shrunk the tumor to I believe 2.1cm time of surgery. I was or am I don't know which because I am finished with chemo, surgery,radiation,herceptin in that order. I was DX ER+ PR+ HER+. So my tumor shrunk substantially to the delight of my Dr. I was on a study which is now closed.

  • lexislove
    lexislove Member Posts: 2,645
    edited February 2009

    Judy...my tumor was 8 cm. As you can see I'm triple +. At surgery there was just DCIS, about 1.4cm of it. My tumor shrank way fast...after the first 2 or 3 treatments it wasn't palpable. Her2 woman respond great to chemo in my opinion and I've heard the same.

    I did ACT X8.

  • petelzmom
    petelzmom Member Posts: 170
    edited February 2009

    Hi JudyO

    My ILC tumor was 7+cm prior to chem (ac x 4, taxol x 4). It was less than 2cm at surgery.

    My IDC tumors were very small and were not present after chemo. I was ER/PR + HER2 -

    Good Luck

    Carolyn

  • Gitane
    Gitane Member Posts: 1,885
    edited February 2009

    I was Her2 negative by IHC and FISH.  ER was very strongly positive by IHC, and scored positive (8.3) by OncotypeDX.  PR was negative by IHC and weakly positive (5.8) by OncotypeDX.  My tumor was very diffuse, and all over the top half of the breast.  I had > 95% shrinkage (by MRI) after 4 rounds of AC.

  • JudyO
    JudyO Member Posts: 225
    edited March 2009

    Truegrit...what grade was your tumor? I am read that they are questioning whether chemo works for ER+ tumors (American Cancer Society stated that this is being researched) and I also know they are questioning whether chemo works for low grade 1....Thanks...

  • Seabee
    Seabee Member Posts: 557
    edited February 2009

    I don't believe anyone has claimed that no chemo works on ILC or HER2-. 

    The taxanes may work better than Adriamycin for ILC, and I notice that all except one of the chemo regimens mentioned here contained a taxane. AC worked for pleomorphic, and two of the responses pertain to IDC and HER2+ rather than ILC.

Categories