Hi Mrs Moore,
You currently have DCIS, size 0.5 cm, surgery done, margins clean.
You also have invasive cancer, size 0.7 cm, surgery done, margins clean, sentinel lymph nodes uninvolved. Does this require chemotherapy? Yes.
For Her2 positive invasive tumors larger than 0.5 cm, there is clear consensus (in America and in Europe) that chemotherapy is necessary.
There is difference of opinion with regard to need for chemotherapy in Her2 positive invasive tumors 0.5 cm or smaller. In this situation, European guidelines (framed at the St Gallen Consensus Conference 2005-07) favor giving adjuvant chemotherapy, while American guidelines (framed by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 2007) do not recommend adjuvant chemotherapy.
The ER and PR status is negative, and Her2 is positive; this pattern of receptor expression mandates more aggressive therapy.
Your oncologist is following established recommendations by advising Herceptin and taxane based chemotherapy. It has already been two months since surgery was done. You must begin the chemotherapy as early as possible.
All the best, and God Bless!
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