Zometa, prevent from BC recurrent

Hi,

My doctor gave me the Zometa based on that study.  He was very clear that the data were preliminary but he thought the study was very convincing and it was worth a shot in my case.  Flalady is right about the insurance.  I don't have mets and my doctor said they might reject it.  I was lucky they have not questioned it so far....

Dandy - the study that you are referring to is the Bisphosphonate study.  There is a thread devoted to it.  I'm taking ibandronate (Boniva), but Zometa is one are of the study.  My onc told me that he recently went to a conference and the findings are very positive with the Bisphosphonate trial - not only does it appear to reduce the occurance of mets to the bone, it seems to be reducing soft tissue mets also.

Are you a triple negative?  This is the only proactive treatment that was available to me.

My onc said he is willing to give me Zometa intravenus not pill because he said Zometa is not proven to be effective if in pill form but in intravenus form seems to be effective, at least under the study......

So I got DD EC and 12 weekly Taxol with 8 times carboplantin (blood count too lower to have all 12 times carbo) and afterwards Zometa twice a year and daily lower dose pill of two chemo drugs under a study. I hope this is enough follow up treatment. What do you guys think? Is it aggressive enough? I had 1 cm tumor and 1 mm micro mets to one sentinal node.

The study I am in is from Milan, a professor who believes the low dose CM of the CMF can prevent building of blood supply, similar to avastin ideas, with very small side effects. I live in Europe so the study here is different from that in the US.

Hi Ladies.

Insurance companies are tricky, but here's how I got around it:

I was initially rejected by my insurance for Zometa coverage based on the premise that it's "experimental and unproven to prevent mets".  However, I was later dx with osteopenia (precursor to osteoporosis -- possibly contributed by chemo), and my Onc was able to write Zometa up as a treatment for my being "at risk for osteoporosis due to osteopenia, and use of Aromatase Inhibitor".

So, if your bone scan shows some weakness... push for coverage and kill two birds with one stone.

Hoa (defeatbc)

Hi newalex.

I finished chemo at the end of August 2008, and just got my first Zometa infusion this week.  I was dx with osteopenia around October and was placed on weekly Actonel (an oral bone builder) when I was initially denied Zometa coverage.  Comes to show how long I had to press to get my insurance company (a US based private insurance) to pay up.

Hoa (defeatbc)