1. < Pancreatic Cancer

Who else has had Gem-Abraxane chemo regimen and for how long?

Posted by joiedevivre @joiedevivre, Dec 19, 2024

I am understanding this disease as I journey with my husband who had a distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy. No signs of active cancer activity anywhere other than pancreas; tumour ws stuck to a little wedge of the stomach and that wedge was removed. Jury is out on whether Stage 2B or Stage 4. He was on Folfirinox at first and that caused his CA-19 markers to rise post-surgery. He was switched to Gem-Abraxane and markers came down. It would be encouraging for us to know how many here is on that regime, how long it has been and how well everyone on it is doing. My husband has been on it 10 months and it is "long-term" until it no longer works.

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dian25 | @dian25 | Dec 24, 2024
In reply to @bzabeli "Hello 199 Noted that you have been on gemcitabine/abraxane for over two years, and you had..." + (show)
@bzabeli

Hello 199
Noted that you have been on gemcitabine/abraxane for over two years, and you had a four-month break. Have a question for you since you're more experienced at this:
I've been on it now for 11 months every other week (about 22 treatments). My CA19-9 has been in the 20s for the last three months.
My oncology team never brought up the possibility of a break. Are breaks from the treatment standard or even common? I had not heard that other than maybe a one week break on occasion.
Thanks for whatever insights you have.

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Do you explore side-effects after the chemo? I just had my first one, and was very tired and nausious

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1 reply
bzabeli | @bzabeli | Dec 24, 2024
In reply to @markymarkfl "@bzabeli , I think breaks are fairly common, but longer and/or more common for patients who..." + (show)
@markymarkfl

@bzabeli , I think breaks are fairly common, but longer and/or more common for patients who have been on a particular chemo for longer periods of time. Sometimes the break is for medical reasons (blood counts, neuropathy, unrelated illness, etc) and sometimes just social/personal (vacation, special family event, etc).

It's all very patient-dependent. In my case, having Covid and missing just one of my biweekly GAC treatments showed up (coincidentally?) as higher CA19-9, higher Signatera, and growing tumors on scans, but we recovered lost ground after resuming.

The 4-month break from GAC for my clinical trial was disastrous. 🙁

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Thanks. That's very helpful and might come in useful for upcoming extended travel.
Sorry to hear about your setback but nice to know that you recovered.
Incidentally, I also carry the AT gene mutation.
Cheers,

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bzabeli | @bzabeli | Dec 24, 2024
In reply to @dian25 "Do you explore side-effects after the chemo? I just had my first one, and was very..." + (show)
@dian25

Do you explore side-effects after the chemo? I just had my first one, and was very tired and nausious

Jump to this post

Hi Dian25
Yes. My side effects are mild nausea, fatigue, headaches, and losing taste sensation. The side effects diminish over three days.
The greater side effect is neuropathy. I still have foot neuropathy from the treatments three years ago. The Abraxane will make it worse. The recommendation is icing feet and hands during infusion and then keeping your feet up as much as possible for a couple days afterward while the Abraxane works out of your system.
Good luck.

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199 | @199 | Dec 24, 2024
In reply to @bzabeli "Hello 199 Noted that you have been on gemcitabine/abraxane for over two years, and you had..." + (show)
@bzabeli

Hello 199
Noted that you have been on gemcitabine/abraxane for over two years, and you had a four-month break. Have a question for you since you're more experienced at this:
I've been on it now for 11 months every other week (about 22 treatments). My CA19-9 has been in the 20s for the last three months.
My oncology team never brought up the possibility of a break. Are breaks from the treatment standard or even common? I had not heard that other than maybe a one week break on occasion.
Thanks for whatever insights you have.

Jump to this post

I had been offered a break or vacation a few times when my CA19-9 was down to 8. I think that would have been the time to take one, but I was determined to keep up with chemo. After 44 treatments, my CA19-9 was slowly creeping back up when I took the break. I took it because I felt so worn out. I think if I had taken the break sooner it would have been longer. Who knows.
I was going down again but had to miss one chemo due to pneumonia & my numbers went from 29.4 on 10/31 to 93.9 on 12/5 then to 105.2 on 12/19 so no more breaks. I have to admit it was a great 4 months off the chemo: started getting hair, had more energy, could walk better & breathe better!
I do not think breaks are standard. It is up to you & your oncologist.

REPLY
1 reply
marienewland | @mnewland99 | Dec 24, 2024
In reply to @199 "I had been offered a break or vacation a few times when my CA19-9 was down..." + (show)
@199

I had been offered a break or vacation a few times when my CA19-9 was down to 8. I think that would have been the time to take one, but I was determined to keep up with chemo. After 44 treatments, my CA19-9 was slowly creeping back up when I took the break. I took it because I felt so worn out. I think if I had taken the break sooner it would have been longer. Who knows.
I was going down again but had to miss one chemo due to pneumonia & my numbers went from 29.4 on 10/31 to 93.9 on 12/5 then to 105.2 on 12/19 so no more breaks. I have to admit it was a great 4 months off the chemo: started getting hair, had more energy, could walk better & breathe better!
I do not think breaks are standard. It is up to you & your oncologist.

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What Chemo are u on?

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1 reply
gamaryanne | @gamaryanne | Dec 24, 2024
In reply to @markymarkfl "@bzabeli , I think breaks are fairly common, but longer and/or more common for patients who..." + (show)
@markymarkfl

@bzabeli , I think breaks are fairly common, but longer and/or more common for patients who have been on a particular chemo for longer periods of time. Sometimes the break is for medical reasons (blood counts, neuropathy, unrelated illness, etc) and sometimes just social/personal (vacation, special family event, etc).

It's all very patient-dependent. In my case, having Covid and missing just one of my biweekly GAC treatments showed up (coincidentally?) as higher CA19-9, higher Signatera, and growing tumors on scans, but we recovered lost ground after resuming.

The 4-month break from GAC for my clinical trial was disastrous. 🙁

Jump to this post

Which clinical trial did you participate in at MD Anderson?

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1 reply
markymarkfl | @markymarkfl | Dec 24, 2024
In reply to @gamaryanne "Which clinical trial did you participate in at MD Anderson?" + (show)
@gamaryanne

Which clinical trial did you participate in at MD Anderson?

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@gamaryanne , it was this one:
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05922930
It involved injecting CAR-NK (Natural Killer) cells derived from cord blood stem cells directly into the abdominal (peritoneal) space, targeting cancer cells that express the TROP2 protein. It is open to patients with pancreatic cancer and two types of gynecologic cancers, as long as there was measurable metastasis in the peritoneum.

I was patient #5 in Phase 1. I think they're into (or very near) Phase 2 now. I tried to get some intermediate data from the researchers about how it's been going for the other patients, but they couldn't/wouldn't release any details. Very promising science/technology on paper and in the lab, and also in a previous study treating CLL. I was shocked by the complete lack of response in my case, but fortunate that the SoC GAC chemo is still providing some control.

Other possible trial drugs for me would be those targeting KRAS G12D, CHEK2, ATM/ATR, and CDN-18 if I test positive for that. There are some interesting trials in that space, but travel has become a big constraint for me now that I'm on TPN. 🙁

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199 | @199 | Dec 25, 2024
In reply to @mnewland99 "What Chemo are u on?" + (show)
@mnewland99

What Chemo are u on?

Jump to this post

Gemcitabine & Abraxane.

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1 reply
carneydh | @carneydh | 6 days ago

I had a tumor on the head of my pancreas. I did three months of GA before the surgery. My tumor stayed stable. After the surgery my surgeon wanted me to do three more months of chemo.
My scans have been negative since January 2024. I am on a watch and do scans every three months now.

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