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Options for unresectable tumor with SMV involvement
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: Aug 17 3:34pm | Replies (16)Comment receiving replies
My Whipple was also aborted due to vascular involvement. Highly reputable surgeon so that’s not the case. Oncology just wants to wait and see with mine as it is not spreading yet. When it does start growing, I will be back on 5-FU infusions. I am open to hearing other Options as well.
Replies to "My Whipple was also aborted due to vascular involvement. Highly reputable surgeon so that’s not the..."
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Background:
To clarify: my wife is the patient, I am the researcher.
Our research discovered a clinical trial entitled "Stereotactic MR-guided on-table adaptive radiation therapy (SMART) for borderline resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer: A multi-center, open-label phase 2 study". Here is the link:
https://www.thegreenjournal.com/article/S0167-8140(23)09371-4/fulltext
I am not a doctor, so the following is my layperson's understanding. SMART radiation uses real-time MRI imaging to adjust the beam as the patient's body moves for any number of reasons, such as during breathing. or muscle contraction. This is an improvement on traditional radiation which essentially takes a CT on Day 1 and uses that image for treatment on Day 2. Since this does not account for patient or tumor movement, the beam accuracy is reduced and more of the tumor is missed and other tissues are radiated. SMART provides more accuracy and therefore allows higher dosage. SMART takes two weeks. Week 1 Day 1 is consult to plan the treatment. There are 5 days of radiation in Week 2 followed by recovery.
Here is a link to Dr. Michael Chuong at Miami Baptist Health, who was the study leader:
https://baptisthealth.net/doctors/michael-d-chuong/869551
We traded emails and spoke with him at length by phone. He was easy to speak with and answered all our questions. He said his treatment was specifically applicable to unresectable tumors because resectable patients would have Whipple surgery. We did not proceed with him as we thought Whipple surgery would be successful.
Dr. Percy Lee at City of Hope Los Angeles was also on the study team. We have a consultation with him on 8-14 as he is closer to our San Diego home than Miami and was recommended by Dr. Chuong. Here is his link:
https://www.cityofhope.org/percy-lee
Here is one patient's story:
https://baptisthealth.net/baptist-health-news/she-defeated-pancreatic-cancer-via-most-advanced-radiation-therapy-at-miami-cancer-institute
SCINTIX uses PET imaging, but not yet for PC.
https://scintixtherapy.com/education/
Clinical trials may be available, but we haven't investigated them in detail yet.
Let us know what you discover. Best wishes for success.