Ibrance and Liver Lesions: What's your experience?

Just an FYI, these are Liver Mets from Breast Cancer.

Hi @trivia, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I'm tagging a few other members who have experience with Ibrance (palbociclib) for metastatic breast cancer, like @rraw @ja5747 @mom23boys and @oilermama

Trivia, I'm sure it's unnerving for the lesions to get bigger before they get smaller. I'm glad they warned you of that common progression. Were you given anything to help with the nausea?

Yes, I was given Ondamsetron. Its brilliant and dissolves on your tongue. Sometimes I have to run to the box! But it works almost immediately. I'm so grateful.

Hi @trivia, @colleenyoung tagged me on your post as I also took Ibrance. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to offer much to the conversation as I only took five cycles before an MRI revealed extensive liver lesions, and the decision was made to move on to a chemo drug instead. It was quite a surprise as previous CT’s only showed a handful of lesions that we were following and those appeared to remain stable during the time I was on Ibrance. We had to take the approach that Ibrance was not working, but to be fair, there is no way of knowing if it did or not since we don’t know how long the degree of lesions have been there. One of the characteristics of my lobular breast cancer is that it doesn’t present itself well on imaging, and it appears in the case of my liver, we needed the detail of the MRI to see what was really going on. Best wishes to you - I hope your next scans show your lesions are decreasing in size!

Hi Colleen, I appreciate your response. I have noticed that metastatic liver lesions alone aren’t as common. Also, I’ve read about Ibrance on Pfizer’s website and that it only increases the Progression Free Survival 5 months on average although some ladies have been on it for years. How often did you have the CT Scan? What chemo drugs did they put you on? Bad side effects? Do you know if it’s helping yet or did you have another scan? Thanks. I’m only a couple of months into Metastatic status. I’m still figuring this out. Sadly it seems I was probably Metastatic from the first diagnosis. Warmly, Trivia

Hi Trivia. Colleen also tagged me on your post. I'm sorry but I can't be much help when it comes to liver lesions. My metastatic cancer is to the femur, humerus, lungs and skin. I'm on my 14th cycle of Ibrance with Letrozole for IDC. I've had good results so far, with CT Scans done every 3-5 months. My lung mass shrank a great deal, bones are stable or better, skin lumps cleared up right away and breast mass wasn't even mentioned on last Scan. Side effects seem to be my enemy mainly. I never had nausea with Ibrance but after 8 - 10 months started hair thinning, aches in my joints and pain in my rt. heel, eyes watering. I'll take those over progression. I hope you see some good results with this but as my Onc told me "you must be patient, you won't see immediate results". I'm not going anywhere.

Thanks I appreciate you sharing your experience. I get see I won’t see immediate results. But I also worry Targeted Therapy like SBRT on my lesions won’t be as effective if the continue to grow, from what I’ve read. I’m in good health otherwise. Funny saying that but so true! Blood work shows good liver function but lesions are small now. Hoping the Ibrance is as effective on liver lesions as it seems to be on other Mets.

Hi Trivia,I think your reply was related to what I posted (not Colleen) so I’ll respond as if that’s true. My first Mets location was my stomach and 16 months later discovered liver lesions. I started Ibrance at that time and had two CT’s in 5 months where we thought the disease was stable until the MRI already mentioned. I am taking Zeloda, a pill form of chemo instead of traditional chemo which the oncologists thought I’d be able to tolerate better given weight concerns. I’m only on the second cycle (two weeks on, one week off) and side effects to date have included face rash, mouth sores and hand/foot syndrome; certainly not pleasant but I’m managing. Will do another scan after four cycles to see if helping. It can be really daunting to read/absorb/process drug statistics, for me it helps to reference websites such as this one to get insights to what others have experienced, and keeping the faith that I’ll be one of those women to live for lots and lots of years with a Mets diagnosis. Wishing you well, Trivia, as you move along the Mets journey.

Thanks ja5747. Ibrance didn’t work. More liver lesions and bigger and brighter on PetCT scan. Low WBC count. Am off Ibrance. Still taking Falsdex shots. Doing more Holistic approach now.

For @trivia - I am not on ibrance yet but have mbc to the bones for two and a half years. I have tried anastrazole and letrozole with major side effects that I have had to stop both. Am now taking DIM and indole3 which are extracts of greens and cruciferous vegetables. Only just started so will let you know. Good luck in your journey.