Dr. Janni on Reducing Adverse Events of HER2-Targeted Treatment in Breast Cancer

Wolfgang Janni, MD, PhD, University of Ulm, discusses the management of adverse events for patients being treated with HER2-targeted therapies.

The benefits of HER2-targeted therapies outweigh the adverse events associated with them, says Janni. But patients should be closely monitored, particularly in early breast cancer.

The combination of trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) may result in cardiotoxicities, so a physical examination and thorough history of the patient should be conducted, then factors such as heart rate and body weight must be closely monitored as treatment progresses.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors used in the treatment of HER2-positive disease, particularly neratinib and lapatinib (Tykerb), regularly induce grade 3/4 diarrhea, adds Janni, which can be controlled by loperamide.

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