Can Enhertu help my mother achieve NED after recurrent NSCLC?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am asking about my mother, who has NSCLC and has relapsed multiple times over the last few years. She has had surgery, chemo, radiation, immunotherapy, and now the oncologist has suggested Enhertu after HER2 mutation was found.

This is her seventh recurrence, and emotionally, we are exhausted. Can Enhertu get NSCLC to NED after seven recurrences?

Her last PET showed reduced uptake but not complete clearance. We are trying to balance hope with reality and understand what success really means at this point. Does NED at this stage usually last, or is it often short-lived?

Please help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have read your query and understand your concern.

I know how emotionally exhausting this journey must be for you and your family. When a cancer relapses multiple times despite several treatments, it naturally becomes difficult to balance hope with realistic expectations.

Enhertu (fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki) is a targeted treatment used in cancers that carry a HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) mutation.

In patients with HER2-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, it can produce meaningful responses even when several previous treatments have already been tried.

In some patients, the tumors shrink significantly, and the disease activity on PET (positron emission tomography) scans reduces, which seems to be happening in your mother’s case since the uptake has decreased.

Reaching NED, meaning no evidence of disease (NED) on scans, can occasionally happen with effective targeted therapies, but after many recurrences, it is not the most common outcome. More often, the realistic goal is to reduce the cancer burden and keep the disease controlled for as long as possible.

Even when NED is achieved in advanced lung cancer, it does not always mean the disease is permanently gone, and sometimes the period of NED can be temporary. At this stage, many oncologists consider success to be continued disease control, reduction in tumor activity, and preservation of quality of life.

The fact that the PET scan is already showing reduced activity suggests that the treatment is having some effect, which is encouraging even if complete clearance has not yet occurred.

I hope I have addressed all of your queries and concerns.

Do follow up for more queries.

Regards.