My Treatment Approach: HER2+ Breast Cancer

Tiffany A. Traina, MD; Vijayakrishna Gadi, MD, PhD, and Heather McArthur, MD, underscore the importance of testing all early-stage and breast cancer patients for HER2 positivity to inform and guide optimal therapeutic decision-making.

Medical experts examine the current standards of care and successive lines of treatment for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, while also addressing the challenges encountered in managing this complex disease.

Heather McArthur, MD, emphasizes the influence of recent and ongoing clinical trials, specifically DESTINY-Breast09 and HER2CLIMB-05, in steering the treatment paradigm in 1st-line HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Tiffany A. Traina, MD, presents a patient case involving a woman diagnosed with HR-negative, HER2 3+ invasive ductal adenocarcinoma and elaborates on the clinical management approaches employed in her treatment sequencing.

Key opinion leaders explore various therapeutic options for later-line treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, emphasizing the significance of the HER2CLIMB and CLEOPATRA trials, while also drawing comparisons to real-world data to inform clinical decision-making.

Tiffany A. Traina, MD, addresses adverse event monitoring and the range of adverse events patients may experience with front-line treatments for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, particularly highlighting alopecia and diarrhea as common side effects.

Vijayakrishna Gadi, MD, PhD, shares his insights on managing patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who have progressed on second and third-line treatments, stressing the potential benefits of incorporating small molecules, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), chemotherapy, and enrolling patients in clinical trials to optimize outcomes.

Vijayakrishna Gadi, MD, PhD, presents the case of a 54-year-old woman with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer exhibiting bone, liver, and brain lesions, and key opinion leaders share their perspectives on the most appropriate treatment approaches tailored to the patient's specific disease characteristics and metastatic sites.

Key opinion leaders revisit the HER2CLIMB trial, providing an in-depth analysis of the latest updates and their implications for the management of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Medical experts delve into the challenges of brain metastases in HER2-positive breast cancer, exploring local therapies for targeting central nervous system metastases and emphasizing the crucial role of multidisciplinary tumor boards, collaboration with colleagues, and referrals to specialized providers in optimizing patient outcomes.

Key opinion leaders anticipate future developments in HER2-positive breast cancer, and on the potential for translating therapeutic advances from the metastatic landscape into early-stage disease management.