Fighting aggressive breast cancer
Danbury, New Milford hospitals offer clinical trials
To combat one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer, Norwalk Hospital has launched four new clinical trials to advance treatment for people with triple-negative breast cancer.
“What really characterizes (triple-negative breast cancer), is it grows very quickly,” said Dr. Linda Vahdat, the Hospial’s chief of medical oncology and clinical director of cancer services.
Vahdat, who is leading the trials, said this type of cancer grows atypically and is aggressive because it doesn’t respond to many drugs. It cannot be treated with hormone therapies or cancerfighting drugs that target the three most common receptors that fuel breast cancer growth.
Vahdat has spent more than 20 years caring for people with breast cancer and her research is geared toward finding new therapies for clients with triple-negative breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer and other breast cancers that are at high risk for recurrence. This set of trials she is overseeing study the effectiveness of immunotherapies or “treatments that boost the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer,” Vahdat said.
Each of Norwalk Hospital’s four clinical trials test responses to different treatments, Vahdat said. Other hospitals that are also part of Western Connecticut Health Network are offering some, but not all, of the same trials: Danbury and New Milford hospitals each offer one of the four trials.
Norwalk Hospital, however, is the only hospital in the state to host all four trials and the only one that’s offering the drug Sacituzumab Govitecan. After working with it for four years, Vahdat said the drug is promising because of its response rate.
“It’s a drug that clearly helps people and it’s great that you don’t have to travel to New York City in order to get it,” she said. “You’re getting access to cutting-edge cancer care close to home.”
Vahdat measures the drug’s success by how much the drug shrinks a client’s tumor — and how long the tumor remains diminished. Her findings suggest the drug reduces clients’ tumors to about half the original size for about 34 percent of patients. That’s noteworthy, she said, because doctors would expect response rates to be zero percent for this type of cancer.
About 250 clients are participating in the clinical trials and Vahdat has room for 480. Clients generally spend about three or four hours receiving treatment through an intravenous drip. Clients receive treatment once a week for two weeks and then take a week off. Patients can return for treatment for as long as it’s helpful, Vahdat said.
Neania Buehler, 59, started treatment with Vahdat in April 2018. She’s an education technician at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and lives minutes away from her job. It takes her about 90 minutes to get from work to Norwalk for treatment, she said.
She was first diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer on Christmas Eve in 2014. She had a lumpectomy to remove a tumor in her left breast followed by infusion chemotherapy and radiation.
She was in remission from October 2016 to August 2017, until she developed a persistent cough that prompted her to visit a pulmonologist. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed her cancer was back and that it had spread to her lungs. She was diagnosed with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer Aug. 30, 2017.
“Even though we knew I was at risk of my cancer coming back because of the type I had, my husband and I were at first devastated,” she said. “But we also felt stronger this time.”
She said the opportunity to participate in the trials has not only given her a sense of hope, but it’s provided education about her disease.
“I didn’t meet the criteria to participate in other clinical trials we inquired about because I had already received prior treatment for cancer,” she said, adding she later developed pneumonia, which excluded her from certain trials. “So, when I learned that I was not only accepted into the clinical trial at Norwalk Hospital, but that I was also getting the treatment drug, I felt so hopeful.”
She and Vahdat said the treatments are not invasive. Buehler hasn’t had any major side effects and has been able to continue to work, shop, exercise and travel. She’s spreading the word and telling other women about the treatment because, “It’s something I’ve been tasked to do, spiritually,” she said.
She hopes through participation in the trials, she’ll be able to educate and help others in a similar situation, even if it’s just in a small way.
Vahdat and her team are enrolling patients in the clinical trials at Norwalk Hospital and are also working to spread the word about the treatment this month in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.