Topic: Breaking Research News from sources other than breastcancer.org

May 21, 2020 03:26PM BlueGirlRedState wrote:

Reading all the posts in various forums, it is increadible what is covered/what it not, the care, advice etc people get. The denial is being appealed, and one patient support advocate felt confident that insurance would cover all or most of it. Contacting my representatives is a waste of time. I have contacted them on several issues including health, and their replies often do not address what I wrote about, or are non-commital, or tell me why I am wrong. We passed an initiative on the ballot to expand Medicaid in this state, and legislators made an attempt to weaken or get rid of it (they failed). They also made an attempt to make the initiative process much more difficult. ( We know more than you do). So far that has failed as well. I do not celebrate the idea of "Medicare for All", because the focus is on insurance/who pays/how much, and not on health care itself. I know some people have no or poor coverage and this would be a chance to pay for treatment they cannot afford. So Medicare is certianly is part of the equation. The other day there was an interview on NPR with a woman whose surgery for BC had been postponed because of covid-19. Her tumor has grown a lot, and the treatment she now requires, is much more invasive. It sounded less hopeful as well.

May 26, 2020 03:35AM JoynerL wrote:

Saulius, thanks so much for the article. I was not aware of Tesetaxel. I will investigate further with my own MO. Very encouraging!

May 26, 2020 02:03PM Lumpie wrote:

https://www.whatnext.com/blog/posts/pd-l1-and-what-it-means-in-cancer-treatement

{Not research, per se, but an brief and accessible article about PD-L1, a bit of history of immunotherapy research, and a very brief explanation of how immunotherapy attempts to work.}

May 26, 2020 02:39PM Lumpie wrote:

morrigan_2575:

I am not aware of any standard protocols for giving H&P without a cytotoxin (chemo). (There may be instances in which physicans moderate or minimize the chemo for particularly frail or intolerant patients. There may have been clinical trials on this.)

Regarding "replace TCHP and AC+THP with Kadcyla," I personally think this would have many advantages; however, a recent clinical trial found that Kadcyla did not provide better outcomes than TCHP, nor was it deemed meaningfully less expensive, so they plan to make patients keep on getting TCHP. This assessment makes a huge error in appreciating patient experience, in my opinion. While "everyone is different" my experience of TCHP was on a different planet vs Kadcyla. Kadcyla was much easier for me to tolerate. Plus there is the issue of hair loss vs. not - which has implications beyond mere vanity. The trial was reported on this board. It would probably show up by searching for Kadcyla for early stage BC or something similar.

I thought AC was only given for TNBC now, but maybe that is not the case.

Thanks.

May 26, 2020 04:33PM morrigan_2575 wrote:

" am not aware of any standard protocols for giving H&P without a cytotoxin (chemo). (There may be instances in which physicans moderate or minimize the chemo for particularly frail or intolerant patients. There may have been clinical trials on this.)"

I read a post here or maybe on a Facebook group I belong too where the person mentioned her IDC was so small the MO felt she didn't need Chemo, just a year of Herceprin. But honestly I can't recall if this was recent or an older post.

"thought AC was only given for TNBC now, but maybe that is not the case."

I went to 3 MOs (ended up going with the first one). 2 of the 3 told me TCHP. The 3rd gave me the option of TCHP or AC+THP. She said the results were the same but, TCHP had more toxicity. I was planning on doing Cold Capping which doesn't work well with AC+T. Plus the money of doing weekly taxol with Cold Capping would have been too expensive.😁

I'm happy to hear Kadcyla treated you better than TCHP that seems to be the majority sentiment on the Kadcyla thread. I didn't have any awful time with TCHP, tolerated it well but, I'm worried about 14 Cycles of Kadcyla since it's got Chemo in there. I'm hoping for a pCR when I get my surgery so I can avoid Kadcyla but, I'll do it if I have to, no question

May 26, 2020 07:22PM Kanga_Roo wrote:

An interesting read
https://www.technologynetworks.com/cancer-research/news/how-carcinogens-trigger-development-of-breast-cancer-335197?utm_

5 hours ago - edited 5 hours ago by Lumpie

sunandsea: Glad that is helpful. If widely adopted, that treatment option would be huge news for lots of people. Less travel, less time off work, and away from family and other obligations. Less reconstruction - or less going without reconstruction. Many forgo the less invasive option of lumpectomy because of challenges with accessing radiation therapy. We can hope that this may make the entire array of options more accessible to the people who need them. Good luck with your treatment!