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How long does gemcitabine and abraxane help?

Posted by jules1962milkshake @jules1962milkshake, Jun 16 6:03am

Good Morning all.

I had a distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy in April 25 followed by 6 months of folfirinox, in March 26 was told it had metastasis to the lining of the stomach, I am now on gemicibine and abraxane. How long as this treatment help other people.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Pancreatic Cancer Support Group.

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bzabeli | @bzabeli | Jun 19 1:12pm
In reply to @joeseah "@bzabeli Hi Did you have chemotherapy in 2021 after your surgery ? I am about to..." + (show)
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@bzabeli Hi

Did you have chemotherapy in 2021 after your surgery ? I am about to start my chemotherapy FU5 in a week’s time following total pancretectomy.

Joe

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@joeseah
My doctors had me on 24 weeks of Folferinox prior to my surgery. The thinking was to reduce the tumor as much as possible pre surgery.
I guess different protocols for different situations.
Good luck.

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joeseah | @joeseah | Jun 20 3:49am
In reply to @jules1962milkshake "@joeseah , yes I had 6 months of FU5, finished in Nov 25" + (show)
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@joeseah , yes I had 6 months of FU5, finished in Nov 25

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@jules1962milkshake
Thanks for sharing.

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mcoplien | @mcoplien | Jun 24 9:38am

Hi my husbands PanCan was diagnosed in 2023 as stage 2. He had 6 mo 5FU chemo followed by the distal pancreas/ tumor removal and spleen removal. Everything was clean borders and not mets to lymphnodes. Only negative pathology was there were cancer cells in the nerves of the pancreas. He went 20 months with clean scans. CA 19-9 started to rise after 12 months and was 4500 at 20 months and cancer was found in stomach wall, they think the pancreas was touching that part of the stomach. He was on Abrax/Gem for 6 months; initially the CA 19-9 went down to 700, but then after 4 months it started to go up. There is now cancer in his liver. He is back on 5FU and waiting for THE PILL - DARAXONRASIB.

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mcharlesfrancis | @mcharlesfrancis | Jun 25 7:46am

So sorry your husband is facing a recurrence after 20 months. I know how discouraging that must be, especially after such good pathology following surgery.

The fact that he had negative margins and no lymph node involvement gave him a good start, although perineural invasion (cancer cells in the nerves) is unfortunately a known risk factor for recurrence.

It sounds like he initially had a good response to Gemzar (gemcitabine) and Abraxane, with his CA 19-9 dropping from 4,500 to 700 before it began to rise again. Now that he's back on 5-FU while waiting for "the pill," I hope that treatment can keep things under control until the targeted therapy becomes available.

I have been on maintenance 5-FU for more than six years. Everyone's cancer is different, but long-term disease control on 5-FU is possible for some of us. I hope your husband responds well again.

Please don't lose hope. New treatments and clinical trials continue to emerge, and targeted therapies are giving some patients options that weren't available just a few years ago.

Wishing you both strength and hoping the next treatment brings another good response.

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Marsha | @gmapri | Jun 26 1:25pm
In reply to @mcharlesfrancis "So sorry your husband is facing a recurrence after 20 months. I know how discouraging that..." + (show)
Profile picture for mcharlesfrancis @mcharlesfrancis

So sorry your husband is facing a recurrence after 20 months. I know how discouraging that must be, especially after such good pathology following surgery.

The fact that he had negative margins and no lymph node involvement gave him a good start, although perineural invasion (cancer cells in the nerves) is unfortunately a known risk factor for recurrence.

It sounds like he initially had a good response to Gemzar (gemcitabine) and Abraxane, with his CA 19-9 dropping from 4,500 to 700 before it began to rise again. Now that he's back on 5-FU while waiting for "the pill," I hope that treatment can keep things under control until the targeted therapy becomes available.

I have been on maintenance 5-FU for more than six years. Everyone's cancer is different, but long-term disease control on 5-FU is possible for some of us. I hope your husband responds well again.

Please don't lose hope. New treatments and clinical trials continue to emerge, and targeted therapies are giving some patients options that weren't available just a few years ago.

Wishing you both strength and hoping the next treatment brings another good response.

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@mcharlesfrancis how often do you receive maintenance treatment?

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Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Jun 29 7:58pm

@jules1962milkshake, you might also wish to see these related discussions:
- Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/gemcitabine-and-abraxane/
- Any experiences with Gemcitabine + Abraxane as second line treatment?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/gemabrax-as-second-line-treatment/

See all: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/pancreatic-cancer/

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