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New Hope for Breast Cancer

By Henry J. Fishman, M.D.
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 28, 2005

Dr. Henry Fishman • New This Week • Previous Topics • About Henry Fishman • Radio Features

There is new hope for women with aggressive breast cancer. A drug called Herceptin is now shown to help women with HER-2 positive breast cancer and that is the most aggressive type.

HER-2 is a gene that produces a protein that helps the cancer spread. Herceptin blocks the protein and according to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine the drug does a good job blocking it.

About 3,200 women with HER-2 positive cancer underwent surgery and chemotherapy. Afterwards, half received Herceptin every 3 weeks for about 8 months and half did not.

Hercpetin cut the recurrence rate and the rate of new cancers and death nearly in half.

Now to be fair, Herceptin did rarely cause congestive heart failure and we don’t know its long-term consequences. We also don’t know if it should be given along with rather than after chemotherapy.

Still, women with HER-2 positive breast cancer should talk with their doctors about Herceptin.

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