Can chemotherapy for IBC be repeated when there is evidence of recurrence after one year? The first round of chemo was well tolerated, surgery and radiation also performed?
In general terms, when recurrence is detected within about 6 months or less from the last dose of a specific type of chemotherapy, then that same chemotherapy would not be the first choice for treating the recurrence because the time is so short that one would assume the tumor was resistant to that type of chemotherapy and one would select a chemotherapy drug that was not included in that first treatment. Fortunately for the breast cancer patients, there are multiple types of chemotherapy that are effective in managing breast cancer, including recurrent inflammatory breast cancer. Lapatinib, or Tykerb, was recently tested in a clinical trial specifically in patients with recurrent inflammatory breast cancer, and Tykerb was shown to have anti-tumor effects in about 1 in 3 patients if they had the HER2 abnormality.
In general terms, when recurrence is detected within about 6 months or less from the last dose of a specific type of chemotherapy, then that same chemotherapy would not be the first choice for treating the recurrence because the time is so short that one would assume the tumor was resistant to that type of chemotherapy and one would select a chemotherapy drug that was not included in that first treatment. Fortunately for the breast cancer patients, there are multiple types of chemotherapy that are effective in managing breast cancer, including recurrent inflammatory breast cancer. Lapatinib, or Tykerb, was recently tested in a clinical trial specifically in patients with recurrent inflammatory breast cancer, and Tykerb was shown to have anti-tumor effects in about 1 in 3 patients if they had the HER2 abnormality.
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