Radiation for HER2 Positive Breast Cancer: 72 Real Stories

Stage IIB HER2-positive apocrine breast carcinoma treated with chemotherapy, trastuzumab, radiation, and tamoxifen

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, Under 40 | Stage II

Biomarkers: ER 80%; PR 5%; HER2-positive by HercepTest and FISH; Ki-67 15%; AR testing not performed

At 7 months of follow-up, the patient remained in remission, with no locoregional recurrence or distant metastasis reported.

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Metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer complicated by medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive breast cancer. Jaw workup focused on osteonecrosis

Metastatic Site: bone / osseous metastasis

The case focused on metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer complicated by medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw after antiresorptive therapy; dental pain improved transiently after oral-surgery interventions, but systemic cancer response was not described.

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HER2-positive breast cancer with brain, skin, and lymph-node metastases responding to dual-targeted therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive breast cancer. Initial tumor was ER/PR negative with Ki-67 30%; skin metastasis had Ki-67 70%.

Metastatic Site: brain, left cervical lymph nodes, skin of left chest…

After 1 cycle of inetetamab trastuzumab, pyrotinib, and capecitabine, skin metastases regressed, CEA and CA125 decreased, brain lesions shrank, and the largest lesion decreased by about 46%, meeting partial response; disease remained stable as of September 2024.

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HER2-Positive Pleomorphic Lobular Breast Cancer in a 43-Year-Old Woman

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s

Biomarkers: HER2-positive, ER-negative, PR-negative

Postoperative adjuvant treatment continued with HER2-targeted therapy after chemotherapy and radiation.

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Stage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Kathleen's Patient Story

Patient Info: Kathleen McEvoy-Schufreider, female, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: liver, bones

Kathleen continued long-term treatment for metastatic breast cancer, including infusions every 3 weeks after resuming the PATINA regimen outside the trial.

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Stage IV HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Samantha's Patient Story

Patient Info: Samantha, Female, Under 40 | Stage IV

Biomarkers: ER-positive; PR-positive; HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: Rib; spine; pelvis

After a mixed response on the radium trial, Samantha changed to anastrozole and abemaciclib. She described the newer hormone-targeted combination as easier to tolerate and working better while remaining in ongoing treatment.

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Stage III HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Christine's Survivor Story

Patient Info: Christine, Female, Under 40 | Stage III

Biomarkers: ER-positive; PR-positive; HER2-positive

Three years after diagnosis, Christine described herself in the survivorship stage and focused on the physical and emotional effects that continued after active treatment.

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HER2-Positive Breast Cancer With Brain and Leptomeningeal Metastases Responding to Intrathecal Treatment

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: brain, leptomeninges

More than 5 years after her September 2019 diagnosis, neurological symptoms had resolved, cerebrospinal fluid remained negative for tumor cells, and maintenance treatment was continuing in February 2025.

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HER2-amplified primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the breast: surgery and adjuvant treatment

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s | Stage II

Biomarkers: HER2-amplified / HER2 3+; ER/PR-negative; Ki-67 ~50%; p53 high; microsatellite stable. No clinically significant inherited mutation reported.

As of November 2024, she had more than 104 months of disease-free survival after breast-conserving surgery, sentinel lymph node biopsy, EC-T chemotherapy, and radiotherapy for Stage IIA HER2-amplified primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the breast.

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HER2-positive breast cancer with brain metastases: responding well to T-DXd

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: ER-positive; PR-positive; HER2-positive / HER2 IHC 3+

Metastatic Site: brain (left cerebellum, left frontal lobe, medulla)

After 14 months and 19 doses of T-DXd, brain metastases remained controlled with no symptomatic or radiological relapse and no severe T-DXd-related adverse events.

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HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer Treated After Chemotherapy-Related Hemorrhagic Cystitis

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s

Biomarkers: ER-positive, PR-positive, HER2-positive

Under surveillance for 2 years with no signs of malignancy.

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HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Treated After Chemotherapy-Related Hemorrhagic Cystitis

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s

Biomarkers: ER-negative, PR-negative, HER2-positive

Under surveillance with no evidence of breast-cancer recurrence for 2 years.

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Metastatic Breast Cancer Returning About 20 Years After Initial Treatment

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female | Stage IV

Biomarkers: ER-positive, PR-negative, HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: bones

About 20 years after her original breast-cancer treatment and sustained remission, bone biopsy confirmed metastatic recurrence; she became too unwell for planned cancer therapy and chose supportive care.

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Stage I ER-positive/HER2-positive breast cancer with radiation-associated morphea

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 70+ | Stage I

Biomarkers: ER-positive; PR-negative; HER2-positive

No evidence of breast cancer recurrence after 2018 treatment; ongoing issue was generalized morphea and breast deformity related to prior radiation, improved with mycophenolate by April 2024.

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HER2-Positive Breast Cancer With Metastatic Progression and Drug-Induced Lupus During T-DM1

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: ER-positive, PR-negative, HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: bones, axillary lymph nodes, intra-abdominal lymph…

More than 5 years after her March 2018 diagnosis, she was living with metastatic breast cancer, but T-DM1 had been stopped after disease progression in 2023.

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Stage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Nina's Survivor Story

Patient Info: Nina, Female, Under 40 | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive; broad hereditary genetic testing negative

Metastatic Site: spine

As of November 2024, Nina described being in a no-evidence-of-disease phase, while continuing treatment because of her Stage IV HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer history.

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HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Anna's Survivor Story

Patient Info: Anna, Female, Under 40

Biomarkers: ER-positive; PR-positive; HER2-positive

As of October 2024, Anna was about 7 years from diagnosis and described long-term survivorship after surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, biologic treatment, and tamoxifen-related mental-health effects.

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Anna’s Triple-Positive Breast Cancer Story

Patient Info: Anna, Female, Under 40

Biomarkers: ER-positive, PR-positive and HER2-positive

Anna completed surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and continued to navigate the effects of hormone therapy, early menopause and fertility loss.

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Stage III HER2-Positive Occult Breast Cancer With a Complete Response to Treatment

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s | Stage III

Biomarkers: HER2-positive

Surgery after neoadjuvant treatment found no residual tumor in the breast or 20 examined lymph nodes, indicating a complete pathologic response; HER2-targeted therapy continued afterward.

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Stage II HER2-Positive Breast Cancer With Fever and a Reversible Brain MRI Lesion After Radiotherapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, Under 40 | Stage II

Biomarkers: ER-positive, PR-positive, HER2-positive

After radiotherapy, fever, neutropenia, headache, and a reversible splenial brain lesion resolved with supportive and antibiotic treatment during her postoperative breast-cancer treatment course.

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HER2-Positive Breast Cancer That Spread to the Cervix

Patient Info: Anonymized, female, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive; ER and PR less than 1% in the left breast tumor

Metastatic Site: cervix, esophagus, mediastinal lymph nodes

Cervical metastasis showed a local complete response after brachytherapy, but systemic disease later progressed to the esophagus. She died after 4 months of nutritional support and palliative treatment.

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HER2-positive breast cancer: surgery after neoadjuvant therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s | Stage I

Biomarkers: ER 1% weakly positive; PR-negative; HER2-positive

No evidence of disease on follow-up while taking anastrozole after pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant T-DM1, lumpectomy/SLNB, radiotherapy, and adjuvant trastuzumab for Stage I HER2-positive breast cancer.

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HER2-positive Stage I breast cancer: residual microinvasion after neoadjuvant T-DM1

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 70+ | Stage I

Biomarkers: ER-negative; PR-negative; HER2-positive

No evidence of disease on follow-up after neoadjuvant T-DM1, lumpectomy/SLNB showing only residual microinvasion/DCIS, continued adjuvant T-DM1 to 17 total cycles, and 52.5 Gy radiotherapy.

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HER2-positive apocrine breast cancer: chemotherapy and Herceptin

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s

Biomarkers: HER2-positive; AR-positive; ER-negative; PR-negative

Disease-free for 2 years after treatment for HER2-positive apocrine breast cancer, with no reported lymph-node recurrence or distant metastases during surveillance.

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