Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective?

@beatpcan Hi and welcome to Mayo Connect? Are you being treated with Gemcitabine and Abraxane?

@tomrennie

Hi thanks for the welcome.

My mother is currently on gem/abrax. It seems she’s responding well to it as her ca19.9 dropped 91% after two cycles.

I’ve signed up here since I’ve been super stressed after her diagnosis and just wanted to get some support along the way.

@beatpcan That's a great way to start off treatment. Congrats to you both. It takes a team of people working together to get the best results possible. Any challenges at this point?

The mental and emotional side effects of battling pancreatic cancer can be equally as challenging as the physical. I can relate to the stress as the patient. You are in good company here. Everyone is a patient or caregiver. We are all in the same boat.

@tomrennie

She has minor fatigue after chemo and a bit of neuropathy but manageable. She's getting a scan later this month. Fingers crossed that the tumors shrunk as much as possible.

@beatpcan Fingers crossed with you. It's great that the fatigue and neuropathy are manageable. Please let us know how her scan goes later this month.

Hi Helena,
I was diagnosed with non resectable stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March of this year 2026. I am on Gem/Abrax every two weeks but I am on a clinical trial at Rochester Mayo, so I am also getting two trial drugs once a month. The trial drugs are Nivolumab and Imzokitug which are immunotherapy drugs. My CA 19.9 started at 2990. It dropped to less than 35 after 3 treatments and has been under 35 for 6 months. My tumor has shrunk to less than half of its original size. The oncologists say it will not decrease in size much more since the tumor consists of mostly scar tissue.
For the most part, I am leading a normal life with the exception of some side effects, the worst being itching. The only thing that relieves the itching is Prednisone which the oncologists want to use sparingly.
I am being realistic and know there is no cure for me so I do my best to embrace each good day that I have.

@snydermark1 It is awesome that the Nivolumab and Imzokitug are working for you. Congratulations! How often do you take them? How long can you be on them?

I’ve had 8 treatments of the trial drugs. I’ve asked about future treatments and my oncologist says since this is trial, future treatments are based on labs, scans and side effects. Right now itching which makes it tough to get sleep. They have had me on 40 mg of Prednisone for 5 days then 20 mg for 5 days in between treatments. My CA 19-9 was 28 last treatment which is good.

@snydermark1 Hopefully the prednisone is helping? Is there any time table to review the labs, scans, and side effects to see if you are eligible for future trial treatments?

I was dx Stage 1 in April 2024. I rec'd 6 gem/abrax infusions every other week then had Whipple to remove the small adenocarcinoma on the head of my pancreas. 2 of 18 lymph glands were "involved". Started same chemo schedule post op and was "cleared" by end of Feb 2025. Mid Sept 2026 CA 19-9 jumped from 15 to 264. Over 6 mos! Sept CT showed nodules in both lungs. Largest was 8mm. Repeated CT of lungs only 3.5 weeks later. No change. So the CT in July did not show nodules then 90 days later 8mm nodules appeared??? I was told that we should wait until the largest nodule is 10mm before we can biopsy to see if it's pan-can or lung. Only side effects from gem/abrex was hair loss. & Low grade fever 2nd day post chemo with body aches that were tolerable for 1 - 2 days. I will be 79 this month and I thought early intervention was going to be my golden ticket! I look back and wonder if my chemo was strong enough? The last 18 months have been a large amount of Drs visits, iron infusions , (1 2)CTs, MRIs port maintenance every 90 days, dieticians, nutritionists , PT, therapists, device & drug training instructions and very little time to be social or do any hobbies
. I don't know if I'm making the right decisions re my care. Best of luck to you!!!