Herceptin for ovarian cancer

praising said:

Herceptin
I just signed on to this site tonight. Have been taking chemo for 2 1/2 yrs. Dr. told me this week we have to change again. He is writing the insurance co. to get approval for herceptin. It is approved for breast but not ovarian. I googled it and read interesting things. All of this is getting old. Just praying the new combination of chemo will put me in remission..
If anyone out there has had Herceptin for ovarian cancer I would love to know about it.

Best wishes to you all.

I had the conversation & was
I had the conversation & was pretty much shut down on the idea of Herceptin. How can an oncologist say "forget it" before knowing whether or not the patient is HERneu2 + (or whatever the receptor is called)?

I do know that the cancer can mutate an become Herceptin resistant--as in the case of a very dear friend of mine who had stage IV breast cancer.

carolenk said:

I had the conversation & was
I had the conversation & was pretty much shut down on the idea of Herceptin. How can an oncologist say "forget it" before knowing whether or not the patient is HERneu2 + (or whatever the receptor is called)?

I do know that the cancer can mutate an become Herceptin resistant--as in the case of a very dear friend of mine who had stage IV breast cancer.

Herceptin
I wonder why the ovarian tumor isn't routinely tested for estrogen receptor status and HER2 status like breast cancer tumors are. I was dx. with ovarian cancer July 2010. I was in a clinical trial, GOG-252, and had IV/IP taxol and IP cisplatin along with Avastin that I continued every 3 weeks until Nov. 2011. Just before my last Avastin tx.and 3 weeks after my mammogram, I found lump in my breast - despite being on Avastin all year! My breast cancer is ER+ (99%) and HER2+++. I would bet money that if I am still able to get my tissue tested from the ovarian, it would be ER+ and HER2+. My ovarian is clear cell and I've read some research papers and trials that showed a fairly high percentage of clear cell OC is HER2+. I also test negative on the BRCA and BART analysis. It just seems like it is all so hormone driven (I also never took HRT). Sooo, I'm currently in chemo again, then will have a double masectomy, and have to continue the Herceptin every 3weeks for a total of a year. Also have to be on Arimidex pill for 5 years to continue to block any estrogen production. Apparently I have EXTREMELY dense breast tissue which makes seeing anything on a mammogram almost impossible. My tumor was 1"!! That would have been nice to know. Check out www.areyoudense.org. Some eye-opening information.