Women are scanned to pick up breast tumours

BBC News Online talks to one woman who has seen her condition improve after taking capecitabine.

Lisa Grosvenor, 44, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in December 1998.

"It was a very aggressive type. It was more like mastitis to look at. There was no lump at all.

The main benefit, as a mother-of-two, is that I can have my treatment at home rather than having to go into hospital Lisa Grosvenor

"They did a biopsy and that proved positive."

Mrs Grosvenor, from Crawley Down in Sussex, underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery straight away.

She was then given courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

'Mistiness'

"But in December 2001, I had what I thought was just back ache.

"However it turned out that the cancer had spread to the other breast, but also to the bones and the liver as well."

She was put onto a course of Taxotere and Herceptin, which tackled the tumour in the liver and the breast.

But it was still in the bones.

And at Christmas 2002, Mrs Grosvenor, a mother of two daughters aged seven and 11, found the cancer had returned.

"I was coughing a lot, but I wasn't concerned because lots of people I knew had a cough.

"But my consultant was concerned and carried out a scan. He found some 'mistiness' on my lungs which worried him."

Hair loss

She was started on a course of capecitabine (Xeloda) at the end of January this year, and scans have shown a reduction in the worrying 'mistiness' on her lungs.

But Mrs Grosvenor said: "The main benefit, as a mother-of-two, is that I can have my treatment at home rather than having to go into hospital.

"That not only benefits me, it benefits the hospital staff as well."

She added: "The traditional chemotherapy treatment did make me suffer a lot of hair loss.

"With this, there's no hair loss and there are very few side effects."