Making the Decision to Have Targeted Therapy for Breast Cancer

Your doctor may suggest targeted therapy if these statements apply to you.

• You have stage IV breast cancer, and your cancer cells have high levels of the protein HER-2.

• Hormone therapy or chemotherapy has stopped working for you.

Your doctor may also suggest Herceptin to help shrink tumors such as these.

• Tumors that have come back after chemotherapy

• Tumors that keep growing despite chemotherapy

You may take Herceptin alone or with chemotherapy. There are clinical trials to see if Herceptin might help women whose cancer hasn’t spread.

Before you take Herceptin, remind your doctor if you’re taking a class of chemotherapy drugs that includes Adriamycin (doxorubicin) or Ellence (epirubicin). Taking these drugs with Herceptin can cause heart problems.