Hi
I posted on here a few months ago about my Mum who has Stage IV NSCLC, was on tarceva for 2 years then had pleural fluid drained and biopsy for t790m which turned out to be positive. She was in pain (not sure if this was biopsy or drain) and was in hospital twice where she had fluid drained again, eventually a catheter installed but caught an infection in hospital and trial closed so she didn't receive tagrisso until January this year and passed away a month later.
I have almost finished my questioning the medical stage so I can move on but my last question is about Avastin (Bevacizumab). Apologies for my ignorance, but if you have EFGR t790m+ do you not have VEGF? Or is it a separate test?
Separate question could the t790m+ mutation change?
Many thanks
Reply # - December 19, 2016, 06:18 AM
Hi coco1,
Hi coco1,
VEGF is not something for which you need to test; it's a signaling pathway used by tumors to create new blood vessels, thereby ensuring an adequate blood supply to the tumor. A VEGF inhibitor such as Avastin is designed to inhibit that normal pathway in order to stop tumor growth.
Avastin was at first thought to be a valuable addition to chemotherapy, but it's benefit has been less clear in more recent studies. So if you're questioning treatment choices (as we all have done), not choosing Avastin would not be a likely factor.
Although mutational status can always change, it's unlikely that the T790M mutation would have changed that quickly, especially in the time that treatment wasn't targeting it.
I hope that you are well on your way to finding some peace with the treatment choices made.
JimC
Forum moderator