Help please!! Rucaparib to Letrozole.

[Jayk26]

Hi everyone. Hope all you warriors are doing well.

I wondered if any of you have any words of wisdom for us?

My mum was diagnosed in May 2019, had chemo and debulking surgery, which worked amazingly well. Sadly, reoccurred within 10months of being NED. Again, had Chemo and secondary debulking. Mum was then put on Rucaparib and has been taking it for the past two years.

Over the last 4 months, her CA125 has slowly crept up and is sitting at 219. We just had the results from a CT scan, which has shown the old tumours have shrunk, but sadly there are some new ones. In turn, the oncologist has decided to stop using PARPs and has put mum on Letrozole.

We’ve had a second opinion, and this oncologist feels we should move straight to chemo (carbo+gem) and not waste time with Letrozole.

We are pretty confused as to what to do? who is right? Is there a right or a wrong?

has anyone here been on Letrozole? Any feedback/ advise would be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Keep yourselves strong, well and don’t give up the fight.

J

[RomanZ]

Hi J,

From what I understand, Letrozole is an old repurposed breast cancer drug that has been utilised as maintenance therapy in OC. It's not very effective but it could give your mum more time between chemo treatments. I guess its an alternative to watch and wait, where you don't have any treatment at all.

[Jayred in reply to RomanZ]

Sorry didn’t finish my finger slipped😂

……… Th letrozole has worked for 10 months. Starting carbo gem in 2 weeks but I have been chemo free for 14 1/2 months. I hope this helps you in your decision making. I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer though. Go with your gut and ask a lot of questions about both the treatments. Best wishes and good luck.

[Jayk26 in reply to Jayred]

Hi, thank you for your reply. Wishing you the very best with new course of treatment. Praying that everything goes to plan for you- keep fighting 😊

[BadgerBright]

Hi Jayk26 I have not been on Letrozole but my Consultant did mention it a while ago with not a lot of conviction I have to say. Now I am experiencing my second recurrence she has gone down the chemo route. Although, she said we could try carbo first and then put in some gem at some stage. Previous to this I had been on the maintenance drug Rucaparib for 18mths. So it is difficult as clearly oncologists have different views on how to proceed. I agree with the last post to keep asking questions and go with how you feel as well as there are no right or wrong answers. Everything is providing more precious time to do things and be with our families and that is what we need.

Hope you resolve your decision making. Best of Wishes. BB.

[Jayk26 in reply to BadgerBright]

Thank you for your response. Wishing you the best with your fight against this beast. Sending you lots of good wishes and prayers.

[Barmycharm]

Hi I was put on Letrozole in February as a last resort before chemo for my first recurrence. It didn’t work at all, in fact whilst taking it various places of disease all increased considerably with sone new growths too. Now starting gem/ carbo on Friday. It seems to work for Breast cancer but not so good for ovarian. Maybe it’s worth a try for 6 months. Best of luck to your mum xx

[Jayk26 in reply to Barmycharm]

Hi, sorry to hear that Letrozole didn’t help. Wishing you the best for your next treatment plan. Best wishes and prayers for you.

[delia2]

Hi. I think it may help more for low grade OC and for estrogen receptor positive OC but I haven’t had it.

[Haeh]

I have been on Letrozole for over 4 years and it kept a lymph node from getting larger until this summer when I had radiotherapy. Still on Letrozole and will know the result of the radiotherapy when I see my oncologist in November. Letrozole has saved me from having chemo up to now.

[Jayk26 in reply to Haeh]

Hi, thank you for getting back to me. Hope you’re doing well and fighting strong. Wanted to ask, what side effects (if any) did you have with Letrozole?

Thank you 😊

[Haeh in reply to Jayk26]

Did have some side effects for about six weeks. Can't remember what they were now, couldn't have been that bad! Think one was some headaches. The good side was they didn't last very long. Hope you are side effecteffects free and Letrozole works for you