90% of HER2-positive breast cancer patients miss treatment opportunity

Women breast cancer incidence in China is currently the highest rate of a disease, has been a serious threat to women's lives and health. In breast cancer patients, 25% to 30% of people are HER2 positive. It is understood that this type of breast cancer recurrence and metastasis rate, and higher risk of death. What they fail to grasp their own lives? Treatment reflects the difficulties behind the kind of social problems? Recently, we approached the HER2-positive breast cancer, visit these special patients who ... ...
Survey: breast cancer in "her" the most vicious
HER2-positive means that the "human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 over-expression", that is: HER2 has been over-active, over-transmission signal to stimulate cell proliferation crazy, so HER2-positive breast cancer patients with a higher degree of malignancy of tumor cells progress faster and more likely to relapse and distant metastasis, and poor results of chemotherapy, the prognosis is even worse in the future.
Military Medical Academy Hospital (307 Hospital) breast oncology, said Professor Jiang Zefei, concepts and ideas because most of the problems with HER2-positive patients did not receive systematic treatment. HER2-positive detection only work to get popular, the patient can be fully diagnosed.
Current medical consensus has been reached: biological targeting therapy of breast cancer is HER2 over-expressing an effective treatment. Use in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, targeted therapies for one year, allows early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer recurrence rate has dropped 52 percent, about one-third lower risk of death; for advanced HER2-positive breast cancer patients, targeted treatment reduces the risk of death but also significantly improved quality of life. Therefore, early detection, adopt and adhere to specific treatment is of great significance.
Problems: double obstruction disease and economic pressures
It is reported that China's annual 180,000 breast cancer patients, one third of HER2-positive breast cancer patients. And compared to other breast cancer patients, this type of breast cancer patients with an average survival time is shorter, have a higher rate of recurrence and metastasis. However, the vague awareness of the disease and treatment costs so that this part of the dual problems of patients with a more bumpy road to recovery.
A recent survey showed that China's treatment of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer is not optimistic, because patient did not fully understand the dangers of HER2-positive breast cancer and the need to take specific treatment, only 44.5% of early breast cancer patients and 59.9% of advanced breast cancer patients had HER2 testing. Even if some patients, some people have been only preliminary immunohistochemistry detected a positive sign, and further re-examination failed to confirm. In the United States and Europe, all breast cancer patients after diagnosis of HER2 testing will be done.
China Medical Oncology Hospital, Professor Xu Binghe said: "The positive for HER2 positive early breast cancer, based on the use of conventional treatment for one year in patients with targeted treatment can reduce the risk of recurrence by half, one-third lower risk of death which means that compared with conventional treatment, if the early use of targeted anti-HER2 therapy, patients can save more lives. "
In addition, economic factors are HER2-positive breast cancer patients with another major resistance. Although countries in the field of cancer treatment health insurance policies are becoming mature and well, but because the drug treatment of these patients is not within the scope of national health insurance, many patients give up the targeted therapy.
Focus: research and development or promote breast cancer drug breakthrough into the health insurance
At present, medical treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer have a certain level of improvement. Number of large-scale clinical trials have shown, HER2 over-expressing patients with early breast cancer and targeted therapies for one year, patients reduce the risk of tumor recurrence 52%, 33% lower risk of death, an average of 4 years of treatment observations showed that nearly 90 % of female patients receiving targeted therapy still survive. In other words, assume that a HER2-positive breast cancer patients will relapse after three years, then the application of targeted therapy, the recurrence of her time will be postponed to 6 or even 10 years later; assuming she will lead to relapse after three years of brain metastases, liver transfer, bone metastases, then she can also prevent the migration of these cells, greatly reduce the risk of death one-third.
Such a significant advantage for HER2-positive breast cancer research exciting, but also allow more patients to see hope. However, due to higher cost of targeted therapies and other reasons, targeted therapy in HER2-positive breast cancer application is still in its infancy. It is noteworthy that, in November 2009 the Department of Human Resources and Social Security released a new version of health insurance directory, set both the high-priced Medicare drug negotiation access mechanism. Herceptin is also the first round of negotiations on the list of health insurance, Medicare reimbursement is expected to negotiate access to the directory, effectively alleviate the economic pressure in some patients. Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Professor Liao Ning led by the "HER-2 is mainly composed of carcinoma in situ with invasive ductal carcinoma in situ were independent predictors of" research, and paclitaxel in the field of trastuzumab neoadjuvant treatment studies, strongly confirms the trastuzumab in breast cancer and the effectiveness of targeted therapeutic areas, which will promote its negotiations to enter the Medicare reimbursement by the directory of the process.
Measures: to carry out non-mutual aid, called on the government to participate
In order not to treat HER2-positive breast cancer patients fall into difficulties, in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places, many cancer charities, associations, clubs have sprung up, such as HER2-positive breast cancer education, demonstration centers, care of the club, etc., through a variety of ways to help prolong life in patients with HER2-positive, quality of life. While caring community together to help a considerable number of patients, but because of the lack of mainstream support, the survival status of breast cancer patients did not achieve substantial change. At present, patients with HER2-positive breast cancer treatment using targeted rate of less than 10%, meaning that 10 patients in 9 are helplessly missed treatment opportunities.
In the United States and Europe, Herceptin HER2 overexpressing breast cancer as the standard drug, has been ranked the health insurance directory. In China, with recent socio-economic development and health care reform process accelerated, standard treatment for many cancer drugs have been incorporated into the ranks of Medicare, such as for lung cancer patients, have been related to molecular targeted therapy can achieve some or all of reimbursement, the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer targeted oral chemotherapy drugs have also been included in National Essential Drugs List, greatly reducing the financial burden of patients. Herceptin HER2 overexpressing breast cancer as standard treatment, pharmacoeconomics also has advantages, if the directory will be incorporated into our health insurance is undoubtedly the majority of breast cancer patients with the Gospel.

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