My Mom had mastectomy on 6 Feb 2020 and is triple negative .
So only Chemo is advised as treatment after surgery tonne followed by local chest wall radiation .My Mom is very fit and active 79.
She lives in India and I am in UK
She has good support system in India with My Dad and another family doctor who lives in our house on first floor. There is district hospital with all modern facilities one hour drive .
She was advised Adriamycin-3 weekly four courses + Paclitaxel - weekly for 12 weeks
I consulted UK doctors for second opinion and one top doctor said Don’t give any chemo as the age is 79 it is very toxic
Another consultant who actually saw her on video conf call said she is fit and we should reverse the order and give Paclitaxel first for 12 weeks and then decide
She has competed 11 weeks of paclitaxel now as on 30 April
with only one injection to take next week
Major side effect she had faced is only hair loss . During the course of treatment all health parameters were normal
she ate well ,had no pain in any part of the body.
she is relatively active , walk daily , do house hold work. Now she does not want to undrgo further treatment of four doses with Adriamycin because of her age .
We are now at decision point
Her Pet scan done in February showed no tumour growth anywhere in body . It was given clear .
Our thought process to decide if to go for Adriamycin course is as below - Any information from experiences given would be really appreciated -
What is the recurrence rate/survival benefit in triple negative breast cancer for patients that complete the full course of paclitaxel + adriamycin?
What is the recurrence rate/survival benefit in triple negative breast cancer for patients that only take paclitaxel (like Mom has)?
What is the reduction in recurrence rate or survival benefit in triple negative breast cancer to be gained by additionally giving Mom the adriamycin course now that she’s finished the paclitaxel course?
Also what are bad effects of Adriamycin that can cause major impact on health , quality of life - based on her condition.
Has any one with TNBC and nodes involvement had no recurrence after surgery and only Paclitaxel treatment ?
Also pondering if RT regime should be followed .Weighing the percentage risk reduction VS side effects and quality of life . Also there is a journey of 1 hour and visits big hospital with Corona exposure risk .
Mom got tired of chemo after 11 th injection . But may go for further treatment if advised of large benefit
PS:
we had tissue tested at two hospitals -
1) Hospital one -
In this report Lymphovasucular emboli , Perineural invasion , and Intraductal carcinoma are NOT SEEN .
Ductal Invasive carcinoma Grade 3
ki67 Score = 40 %
2) Hospital 2
In this report Lymphovasucular emboli , Perineural invasion , and Intraductal carcinoma are SEEN .
Ductal Invasive carcinoma Grade 2
ki67 score = 25 %
