To Chemo or Not to Chemo

Its not true that TN doesn't have any treatments if it comes back, I recently had my TN come back so I opted for double mastectomy, since my TN in 2007 was resistant to chemo A/C & Taxotere. My TN is only in my breast which is not fatal, I got 2 opinions from 2 different oncologist and they were very different. One wanted to give me Traditional Taxotere, but I am sticking with the Oncol that specalizes in Breast Cancer/ Triple Negatives(TN). She wants me to get the Braca gene test, she is offering a most promising treatment for TN which is a targeted Therapy anti-biologic  Avastin (not Chemo) along with Carboplaxin/expemra/. She said she had lost most of her TN's to A/C & Taxotere preceeded by steroids and followed by neulasta, but in the last 5 years she has lost not one TN with the targeted therapy. Unlike traditional therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation, which can’t tell the difference between fast-growing healthy cells and cancer cells, targeted therapies work by “shutting down” a specific process the cancer cells use to grow and thrive. We know that targeting estrogen and progesterone receptors and HER2 isn’t helpful for triple-negative breast cancer. Treatments that target other processes.

• VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor): To get the oxygen and nutrients they need to grow and spread, tumors create new blood vessels through a process called angiogenesis. Avastin (chemical name: bevacizumab) is a medicine that interferes with the activity of the VEGF protein, which stimulates this process. Avastin attaches itself to VEGF, preventing VEGF from interacting with receptors on the blood vessels. By blocking this interaction, Avastin keeps VEGF from stimulating angiogenesis. Another therapy that works in a similar way is Sutent (chemical name: sutinib).
• EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor): Other treatments target a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR. Many triple-negative breast cancer cells are known to “overexpress” EGFR, meaning they have too many EGFRs on their surface. These receptors receive signals that spur the growth of the cancer. Erbitux (chemical name: cetuximab) is a medication that attaches to the EGFR. When this happens, growth signals can’t attach to EGFR on the cancer cell, and so they cannot stimulate the cell to grow.

Clinical trials using these and other therapies could play a key role in improving the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. Talk to your doctor if you think you might be interested in taking part in a clinical trial.

I agree, but I don't agree with women being infused and losing their hair and part of their life, with harse chemo drugs that they might be resistent too. Thanks