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Triple Positive

MBHPJMBHPJ SydneyMember Posts: 9 ✭
edited June 2021 in Newly diagnosed
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone out there is triple positive. I'm triple positive and HER2 positive. I was diagnosed in January, have had surgery now currently doing chemo. I have read various articles on triple positive being an aggressive cancer and with HER2 Positive a high reoccurrence rate. My pathology reports state ER positive 90% which seems quite high and grade 3 Stage 1. When I ask my oncologist about prognosis and reoccurance rate she tends to brush it off. Trying not to be anxious with this information BUT......
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  • AllyJayAllyJay Member Posts: 870 ✭
    Yes I'm triple positive..that is estrogen pos, progesterone pos and Her2 pos. Although triple positive tumours are oftentimes more aggressive than triple negative ones, there is a plus side. Herceptin is a targeted therapy (as opposed to chemo alone, which is more of a shotgun approach). Herceptin whacks the Her2 aspect really hard. Then after active treatment, that is chemo, radiotherapy, or surgery (or all three) you have the hormone suppressors. That starves any possible remaining cells of their food....female hormones. There is no 'good' breast cancer...all are just awful, but triple positive has potentially five arrows in the quiver rather than just three.
  • MBHPJMBHPJ SydneyMember Posts: 9 ✭
    okay thank you for that.
  • Donna1974Donna1974 Newcastle Member Posts: 6 ✭
    Hi I’m triple positive. I was diagnosed in October 2020. I had a bilateral mastectomy in November. I started chemo with herceptin in January, I’ve had 14 with 2 to go and herceptin until February next year. I start radiation in July for 5 weeks. I then have 10 years of Letrozole. I also have zoladex every month and they have referred me to get my ovaries out so I can stop getting the zoladex injection. I had 5 positive lymph nodes. 
    I was told I had a 25% survival rate without treatment and 50% with treatment.
    I feel good and I’m tolerating chemo! I’m trying not to look at the % and go with I’m feeling good!
    good luck with your treatment 
  • HallaHalla Travancore, MelbourneMember Posts: 176 ✭
    MBHPJ said:
    Hi,
    Just wondering if anyone out there is triple positive. I'm triple positive and HER2 positive. I was diagnosed in January, have had surgery now currently doing chemo. I have read various articles on triple positive being an aggressive cancer and with HER2 Positive a high reoccurrence rate. My pathology reports state ER positive 90% which seems quite high and grade 3 Stage 1. When I ask my oncologist about prognosis and reoccurance rate she tends to brush it off. Trying not to be anxious with this information BUT......
    Stage 1 is good! Means early. No lymph nodes is great.

    I don’t think 90% ER+ is bad , I think it just means it’s very estrogen positive - which is good. Treatable with hormone blockers.

    Grade 3 means aggressive but you have treated early and fast so that’s good!

    best of luck with it all 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
  • MBHPJMBHPJ SydneyMember Posts: 9 ✭
    Thank you and you too.
  • noosa_blue150noosa_blue150 Buderim QLD Member Posts: 179 ✭
    Im in same boat - triple positive .diagnosed June 2020. I’m 63 years of age so post menopausal.  Stage 1 . I was told from day 1 , I had 90% chance of beating breast cancer .( status of lymph nodes were not known then altho looked clear ). Oncologist and surgeon both reinterated that statistic as it meant they thought I was a good candidate for lumpectomy surgery if I wished to retain breast  .I could have opted for a mastectomy ( if I personally wanted to remove the offending boob completely which is both a understandable reaction and approach ).

    I’ve since had two rounds neoadjuvant chemo (AC and taxcel ) plus herceptin (immunotherapy)  before lumpectomy surgery in jan . No cancer in 5 lymph nodes .tumour totally removed at surgery . Had radiation post surgery and am now on femara tablets. Will have bone infusion every 6 months as well . 

    I’d read about HER2 + and I had realised it’s potential with recurrences . It’s worrying I must admit .

    I thought I was only having more herceptin infusions post surgery/radiation/hormone tablets BUT
    Then my oncologist proposed further chemo . It sounds as though you had complete tumour regression at surgery ? 

    ‘Turns out post chemo and surgery your pathology results important . Mine showed my tumour had not completely regressed , was still discernible to pathologist so my oncologist proposed T-DMI (kadcycla) chemo every 3 weeks for a further 14 sessions. This used to be a treatment for metastatic breast cancer only but recent KATHERINE clinical trial found it gave early breast cancer patients with HER2 + extra protection against recurrences, and better survival rates  in cases without total regression when compared to,just herceptin.infusions . It’ went up April 2021 on EVIQ - noted a acceptable protocol for early breast cancer HER2+ cases without total tumour regression.
    I was a bit shocked  , As no one had ever discussed full importance of tumour regressing  after neoadjuvant chemo by time of surgery in my case and what it may mean in regards to further treatment . I thought I was only having herceptin infusions which had been well tolerated although caused a few side effects with cardiac ejection fractions and I was on medication for that .

     I realised  that the T-DMI chemo  for me was a cannon approach , whereas if I only had herceptin it was the peashooter approach.  I’ve opted for the cannon approach as suggested by oncologist,  so I won’t have any regrets down the track if I took all that was offered and there is a recurrence. I’ll know I took all  treatments that were  offered to me .

    TDMI has potential,side effects and they are being monitored but to be honest I’ve found  it’s easier to tolerate that other two,types of chemo so,far .

    so I’m hopeful the HER2+ has been targeted well with the chemo/ immunotherapy options and it does play on my mind a bit as I’m really only 12 months since diagnosis. And now 6 months since surgery in particular . Everything crossed ! 
  • Keeping_positive1Keeping_positive1 Member Posts: 391 ✭
    Perhaps I am triple positive!  After reading about triple positive I am still a bit confused.  I had one tumor that was ER+ and was ER/PR+      and the other tumor was HER2 + and ER/PR -
    I am still on AI's, but was told I am more likely to get a recurrence because of my HER2 + diagnosis, and I have had all the treatment for that tumor!  We just have to look ahead and hope all our treatment has done its job.
  • noosa_blue150noosa_blue150 Buderim QLD Member Posts: 179 ✭
    edited June 2021
    If you can get a copy of your pathology report that should sort it for you - it assists medical staff determine your best treatment options . There’s many variations and that explains why there’s different pathways taken by breast cancer patients in their treatments .
    mine reads ER positive 
                        PgR positive (progesterone)
                        HER positive 

       
       
  • Keeping_positive1Keeping_positive1 Member Posts: 391 ✭
    I have a pathology report for the left breast, and one also for the right breast.  They didn't combine the report but had a separate report for each breast, and each tumor is different.  There isn't a triple positive in the one tumor, but rather triple positive if both tumors are taken into account.
  • noosa_blue150noosa_blue150 Buderim QLD Member Posts: 179 ✭
    Two tumours URGH ! So many variations isn’t there ? Glad to hear your treatment over now bar hormone therapy , hope all goes well for you 
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