For women with metastatic HER2 + breast cancer who achieve a complete response, how long do you continue on HER2-directed therapies?
In nearly all cases, I would continue therapy until progression or unacceptable toxicity. Multiple studies have found an improvement in PFS and.or OS by continuing trastuzumab (or other HER2 inhibitor) after progression on trastuzumab.. Ask yourself this.....if continuing BEYOND progression is helpf...
I typically continue trastuzumab even after a complete response, although I might consider changing the backbone to avoid toxicity. For example, for someone with hormone receptor positive, HER2-positive disease who achieves a durable complete response on paclitaxel-trastuzumab, I might consider a tr...
I think one unanswered question is how to manage women with HER2+ MBC who are exceptional responders with no active site of disease and are on single agent herceptin for 5+ years. Would you consider stopping the drug (drug holiday) and careful monitoring for disease progression? An MD Anderson regis...