The Therapy Used To Treat Advanced Breast Cancer

NBC 6 launched Monday a month-long campaign to help women to understand the risks and the latest treatments available to fight breast cancer.

When it comes to treatment, there are new options even for women with advanced breast cancer.
"I have metastatic breast cancer. It's in my liver and it's broken some ribs," said Suzie Silverman, who learned in July that she had inoperable breast cancer.

"I just looked at the doctor and I said to him, 'Please go tell the woman next door that I'm so sorry but you have the wrong patient. It's not me. It's not me. There's no family history. I'm 37 years old,'" she said.

"There are 2 million women dealing with breast cancer -- 250,000 of those women are younger than 40," said Dr. Alejandra Perez of Memorial Breast Cancer Center.

Silverman is now a patient at Memorial Hospital's Breast Cancer Center, where women with advanced breast cancer are being offered a 1-2-3 punch.

Silverman uses herceptin, a monoclonal antibody that acts on a breast cancer receptor. Plus, the chemotherapy agent taxol in combination with lapatinib, a daily pill that's a promising targeted treatment.

"Lapatinib will block two different receptors in the cancer cell, and we've already been able to show that chemotherapy alone is not as effective as lapatinib with chemotherapy," Perez said.

In the lab, individual tumors are tested for specific receptors like estrogen, progesterin and Her-2/neu. Plus, the rate of growth or aggressiveness of the tumor can also be determined.

Oncologists can use all that information to determine what will work best for each patient.

"We are learning a lot about the biology of the tumor, why a woman with breast cancer does differently compared to another woman with a similar type of tumor," Perez said. "In the past, we used to treat every woman the same -- with chemotherapy -- and everybody pretty much got the same regiments. Now, we're able to target the therapies in a better way."

When breast cancer spreads to the brain, there has also been some response in patients taking lapitinib.

"That's very encouraging because until now, we don't have any treatment, any oral treatment or even any IV treatment that will treat brain metastases," Perez said. "The only treatment for brain metastases from breast cancer right now is radiation therapy. So, to see a drug that is causing responses in the brain is extremely exciting."

Silverman said she is encouraged by her initial response to the combination therapy.

"Everything has just been so positive," she said. "I've seen huge results in my tumor markers, my liver functions and my bone functions after a month."

Perez stressed the importance of being your own healthcare advocate. She said a patient who is concerned about a suspicious lump should not let a doctor dismiss her concerned because she is too young or does not have a family history of breast cancer.

source:www.nbc6.net