← Return to Have you had TACE or SirSpheres radiation treatment? Please share

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@colleenyoung

Please check back in after your appointment on Wednesday. I'd like to hear what the radiologist has to say and what feeds in to your decision making. Not simple. In the meantime, I'm going to search for someone who has had the procedure and may be willing to share here. No promises, but one can try.

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Replies to "Please check back in after your appointment on Wednesday. I'd like to hear what the radiologist..."

Thanks Colleen for your input!
After looking at all my information, scans, my chemo routine up to this point, etc., the Interventional Radiologist that I spoke to yesterday at Penn Hospital in Philadelphia, came to the conclusion that SIR-Spheres is the best route for me. It's a 2-step procedure. I'll go back on Nov 5th and have what's called "mapping" where they put a catheter up through the groin to the liver tumor. They inject a dye of sorts and see if it mostly stays there. If too much of it goes to the lungs or elsewhere, then it's a No-Go and they'll do something else (like the TACE). If the "mapping" goes as planned, I'll go back within the next week to have the actual procedure where they place the radioactive "spheres" in the tumor. The spheres will shrink the tumor and it can take up to 6 months, although they do MRI scans at intervals during the 6-month period to observe shrinkage. My tumor is at the Vena Cava and the liver surgeon wants the tumor shrunk as much as possible before he can do a safe resection. I found a decent link in case anyone else wants to read about this at http://www.sirtex.com/us/patients/about-sir-spheres-microspheres/frequently-asked-questions/