I have mucinous pancreas cancer on the tail & I had 2 lesions on my liver. I have been receiving chemo for the past 16 months. During this time, one of my liver lesions kept getting smaller and disappeared. My oncologist presented my case during a web chat about tumors and possible treatments. All the doctors felt I was a good candidate for radioembolization of my liver lesion. This procedure uses very, very tiny glass beads that have radioactive isotopes attached to them. The beads are then placed in a blood vessel near your groin & the beads are placed in the blood vessel that is feeding the lesion. Before this procedure, they map the blood vessels so none of the isotopes end up in the lungs or else where. I had Dr. Sarah White at Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee, Wi. I was told this procedure was usually done for liver cancer patients. I had this done on Feb. 9, I was awake during the procedure but had been given meds to relax me. I was told the main side effect would be feeling very tired & I was very tired most of February! You also need to keep drinking lots of fluids to flush out the liver. Fortunately this only affected 15% of my liver & it's supposed to regenerate. I'm having a CT on Thursday, so Dr. White can see what if anything happened to the liver lesion and I will be seeing her on March 12, to hear the results. I was told the FDA had approved this procedure 6 months ago but they have been using this for over 20 years. My husband & I were blown away when this was explained to us. We are hopeful to see positive results.
This procedure is often termed Y90. I had this in September 2022.
We allowed one month of “chemo wash out” prior to the procedure then I jumped back on it mid October.
It worked really well and it was after a CLUSTER of tumors. Most, if not all became necrotic.
We continued chemo until I had a distal pancreadectomy in December then in February liver resection.
I have since had 1 reoccurrence in the liver which was removed.
Highly recommend mentioning Y90 to your doctors. Mine was easily done in Atlanta. It is done by interventional radiologists.
I had lesions on my liver when first diagnosed, and was told chemo was the only option. I may have had nodules starting in my lungs too, CT was ambiguous, but if so chemo has cleared them up as well as slightly shrinking lesions on my liver.
I had lesions on my liver when first diagnosed, and was told chemo was the only option. I may have had nodules starting in my lungs too, CT was ambiguous, but if so chemo has cleared them up as well as slightly shrinking lesions on my liver.
Do you happen to have his email still? I tried calling there this morning but they would not let me through to him or give me an email. We are far away as well and I was hoping to have a little prelim info about if my father would be a possible candidate or not for that before we commit to traveling so far.
It is so easy to think any lesion on the liver is cancer. Of course the radiologists reading have diagnostic criteria, but usually a biopsy seems to be the ultimate but perhaps the most uncomfortable and high risk final diagnosis. My husband had some seen on CAT scans that disappeared in subsequent ones during active immunotherapy and may have been, but no one really attributed it to them there are a number of types of sources of liver lesions from what I understand that have their own sets of characteristics. However while in active therapy, their disappearance could mean that immunotherapy worked on them. Just recently, My husband had sepsis from an obstruction due to G.I. adhesions from the initial pancreatectomy. Following that a CT showed a liver lesion. A follow up liver MRI continued to show it. All of the doctors and tumor board couldn't decide if it was infection or cancer without a biopsy. My husband weighed in on what he didn't want to do and he wasn't crazy about a biopsy. The decision was to wait and see from that liver MRI for one month. At the end of the month there was clear radiologist/MD recognition that the lesion was from infection and that it was nearly totally dissipated at the second MRI. So sometimes infection can be good news instead of more cancer. My husband had been free from visible CT cancer lesions for 2 years when this happened. This next week is our 5th year anniversary of fighting pancreatic cancer.
Thank you for that article as it exemplifies how a stage 4 patient can now have surgery! I’m wondering if it only works on tumors versus lesions in the liver?
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I got on the MSK website and requested an appt. If I remember correctly, I was able to send a short description of where I was in treatment.
This procedure is often termed Y90. I had this in September 2022.
We allowed one month of “chemo wash out” prior to the procedure then I jumped back on it mid October.
It worked really well and it was after a CLUSTER of tumors. Most, if not all became necrotic.
We continued chemo until I had a distal pancreadectomy in December then in February liver resection.
I have since had 1 reoccurrence in the liver which was removed.
Highly recommend mentioning Y90 to your doctors. Mine was easily done in Atlanta. It is done by interventional radiologists.
I have three liver lesions. I am on Gemcitibine/ Abraxane chemo since last September.
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1 ReactionI had lesions on my liver when first diagnosed, and was told chemo was the only option. I may have had nodules starting in my lungs too, CT was ambiguous, but if so chemo has cleared them up as well as slightly shrinking lesions on my liver.
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2 ReactionsThank you for that positive information
Sorry. I didn’t see this post. And I don’t have the email.
I would call and make an appt. They can consult with you virtually for ur appt.
It is so easy to think any lesion on the liver is cancer. Of course the radiologists reading have diagnostic criteria, but usually a biopsy seems to be the ultimate but perhaps the most uncomfortable and high risk final diagnosis. My husband had some seen on CAT scans that disappeared in subsequent ones during active immunotherapy and may have been, but no one really attributed it to them there are a number of types of sources of liver lesions from what I understand that have their own sets of characteristics. However while in active therapy, their disappearance could mean that immunotherapy worked on them. Just recently, My husband had sepsis from an obstruction due to G.I. adhesions from the initial pancreatectomy. Following that a CT showed a liver lesion. A follow up liver MRI continued to show it. All of the doctors and tumor board couldn't decide if it was infection or cancer without a biopsy. My husband weighed in on what he didn't want to do and he wasn't crazy about a biopsy. The decision was to wait and see from that liver MRI for one month. At the end of the month there was clear radiologist/MD recognition that the lesion was from infection and that it was nearly totally dissipated at the second MRI. So sometimes infection can be good news instead of more cancer. My husband had been free from visible CT cancer lesions for 2 years when this happened. This next week is our 5th year anniversary of fighting pancreatic cancer.
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6 Reactions5 yr survival..love to see that
My husband did have the bx and they are cancer . The chemo he is on now is supposed to treat his pancreas and liver🙏🏽
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1 ReactionDr. Christopher Wolfgang, chief of the Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery at NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center suggested his stage IV adenocarcinoma patient undergo histotripsy (ultrasound ablation) for 4 liver mets before Whipple. Article from March 28, 2024. https://nyulangone.org/news/nyu-langone-cancer-specialists-use-pioneering-histotripsy-technology-noninvasively-treat-liver-tumors
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5 ReactionsThank you for that article as it exemplifies how a stage 4 patient can now have surgery! I’m wondering if it only works on tumors versus lesions in the liver?
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