tac or dose dense for trip neg

taj72, sorry to hear of your mother's diagnosis but you will get a lot of answers here--you also should consider joining the forums at www.tnbcfoundation.org, which is the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation web site, and posting your questions there.  My sister is the one who was diagnosed with TNBC, and she just finished chemo.  Every person is different and your Mom's chemo regimen wll depend upon a number of factors, but i would expect her doctors would recommend a dose dense regimen (instead of TAC) because it is more aggressive and associated with better results.  You are right that you want to treat this as agressively as possible up front, esppecially for more advanced stage disease.  The good news is that TNBC responds better to chemo than hormone positive breast cancer.  As for anti-nausea meds, Emend is usually the top choice, although there are many others they can give her if that doesn't do the trick.  There is a "magic mouthwash" to help with mouth sores (don't know the name, but her onc will )  My sister was told to avoid ice chips because they can sometimes take on the taste of the chemo drugs, and to suck on ice pops instead.  I m sure others who have been through this will post with more information, but I hope this helps--Good luck to your Mom and you--there is light at the end of this tunnel!!!! 

Hi,

I had sseveral options.  My doctor told me that Taxotere was just as good as Taxol and with fewer side effects. So I received Taxotere and Carboplatin( I believe another name for Cytoxin).  I received 6 doses 3 weeks apart.  I was offered aclinical trial where they alternated Taxol and Taxotere every two weeks.  It was experimental and they were trying to see if the more aggressive treatment would have a better outcome.  I decided to stick with the Taxotere and declined the TIC TAC study.  Now that I'm done I'm glad that I did.  The doctor tells me that there is some research to indicate that aggressive exercise, lean muscle mass and a low-fat mostly vegetable and fruit diet is as good as chemo.  If that is the case then I'm probably doing as much for myself by vamping up my life-style post chemo.  We all have to make up our own minds.  

God be with you.  The decision part is the most stressful.  I had trouble not second guessing myself even after I made the decision.

Debonethelake,

Perhaps you had Taxotere and Cytoxan rather than Carboplatin. That is what I had. I had four dense dose treatments... three weeks apart. My onc said some research said this was as effective as the TAC. (a taxane, adrimycin and cytoxan).

GMP - Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but the way my onc described it all to me is that she saves the TAC for her younger patients and usually those that do not work outside the home as it is the strongest she can give.  It is a 3rd generation regime.  You will be getting all three of the drugs at one time.  I am 62, work full time, triple neg, 1.2 cm, no node involvement and she suggested for me that I go with the DD AC + T every two weeks, which is what I am doing.  Mine is second generation with only a 2% difference, so I went with it.  Hope this helps.

Linda 

I asked my onc (Stanford trained Dr.Michael Yen) today about the difference between TAC and Dose Dense ACT and he said the TAC is used for older patients and patients with heart problems. So, in fact, The DD ACT is more aggressive.

I was diagnosed with idc stage 1 no nodes, triple negative. Had bilateral masectomy and I'm getting reading Monday, June 8th to start my first treatment of TAC. Any information would be appreciated. Thank you.