“Triple negative breast cancer?”
My partner was diagnosed July 20, 20, and started chemo in Sept of 3 Feb every 3 weeks followed by 6 carbo with pacatacil for 12 weeks. Then a lumpectomy along with the removal of 23 lymph nodes biopsy showed negative however the surgeons performed a second operation to check for cells showing in margins again biopsy showed negative. She then was given 1 week of intense radiotherapy and believed all was good and advised to take oral chemo capecitabine for 5 months but the blood test showed abnormal function in liver stage 2. They have again started chemo for a further 6 months of carbo for 1 week then gemasitabine for 1 week and 1 week off of which she has had 1. She is knocked off her feet again what can you suggest, please?
5 Answers
Consult Functional Medicine.
Does she have cancer spread elsewhere in her body that they are trying to contain? If not, they yes, it seems like an overkill. They may be able to adjust the dose.
I would talk with the oncologist, there is nothing I can add.
Hello. Your questions are very appropriate regarding cancer treatment.
However, you do not provide enough specific information regarding your partner. Your letter makes it clear that your partner is a woman since the same issues occur in men who develop breast cancer.
Triple negative breast cancer can be very aggressive. Presumably this clinical situation specifies ER (estrogen receptor) and PR (progesterone receptor) negative cancer and HER2 Neu negative cancer.
Breast cancer undergoes staging analysis (stages 1-4). Then the tissue undergoes pathologic analysis. For many years only Er and pr were available. Then Her2neu analysis was developed. At present there are multiple biochemical analyses that can be performed. Each of these analyses have specific predictive value describing the chances of recurrence of the cancer and how effective adjuvant treatment might be. Adjuvant treatment implies treatment given to decrease the possibility of recurrence. This can be either chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Staging of breast cancer requires the size of the primary tumor and the presence or absence of involved lymph nodes.
It sounds like your partner received appropriate treatment for her breast cancer. Further information can be obtained from guidelines published by the NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network). This is a group of well known academic cancer institutions in the United States. They are available at the website www.nccn.org and then you would need to search on treatment guidelines for breast cancer.
I am unsure why the doctor is prescribing further chemotherapy at this point. Usually this treatment is deferred until and if the cancer should recur systemically. I believe that it would be beneficial for your partner to obtain a second opinion from a major cancer center in her area.
Good luck
However, you do not provide enough specific information regarding your partner. Your letter makes it clear that your partner is a woman since the same issues occur in men who develop breast cancer.
Triple negative breast cancer can be very aggressive. Presumably this clinical situation specifies ER (estrogen receptor) and PR (progesterone receptor) negative cancer and HER2 Neu negative cancer.
Breast cancer undergoes staging analysis (stages 1-4). Then the tissue undergoes pathologic analysis. For many years only Er and pr were available. Then Her2neu analysis was developed. At present there are multiple biochemical analyses that can be performed. Each of these analyses have specific predictive value describing the chances of recurrence of the cancer and how effective adjuvant treatment might be. Adjuvant treatment implies treatment given to decrease the possibility of recurrence. This can be either chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Staging of breast cancer requires the size of the primary tumor and the presence or absence of involved lymph nodes.
It sounds like your partner received appropriate treatment for her breast cancer. Further information can be obtained from guidelines published by the NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network). This is a group of well known academic cancer institutions in the United States. They are available at the website www.nccn.org and then you would need to search on treatment guidelines for breast cancer.
I am unsure why the doctor is prescribing further chemotherapy at this point. Usually this treatment is deferred until and if the cancer should recur systemically. I believe that it would be beneficial for your partner to obtain a second opinion from a major cancer center in her area.
Good luck
The situation sounds a bit complicated. If she is getting chemotherapy again it would seem to me they think the cancer has returned otherwise they would not give chemotherapy a second time. The regimen they are recommending is appropriate for a recurrence if that’s what she has. I think it would be better to get a formal opinion by another oncologist who can review the entire record to make more precise recommendations than what I can provide here with limited information. If you would like general information about Triple Negative Breast Cancer, please visit the educational web site I created for this topic: triplenegative.com Dr. William Diehl, NJ
