Connect
← Return to Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective?
Discussion
Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective?
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (171)Comment receiving replies
Curious. I hear of stage iv people having the whipple or pancreaectomy. Many doctors claim to work on cases that were deemed inoperable with massive vein involvement, liver, Mets, lymph nodes, etc.
if chemo shrinks the pan mass and the metastatic spots are gone or necrotic, will surgeons still do the surgery? I’ve spoken to many stage iv survivors who have had this chance…why is that some can and some can’t? Look forward to some insight. Inspiration. I know some are even many years out with no evidence of disease or in remission with chemo alone.
Replies to "Curious. I hear of stage iv people having the whipple or pancreaectomy. Many doctors claim to..."
@amchurch , I am confused about this like you are. HIPEC (the Heated IntraPEritoneal Chemotherapy) treatment is usually done in conjunction with CytoReductive Surgery (CRS) which is basically going in surgically and removing every metastatic tumor they can find -- the exact scenario for which they would close you up and not even perform a Whipple.
My gut instinct is they should do this first, but I think there's a selection process involved, in which they're taking extra time to make sure the patient is responding to the same chemo that would be used in HIPEC, and that the patient/disease is stable -- no rapid spread they would miss despite the CRS surgery.
As far as issues with other veins, arteries, and organs: I think that is a slightly separate case. The HIPEC/CRS is mainly focused on spread to the peritoneum, whereas the others might just be cases where the particular surgeon's skill at vascular reconstruction is far above average, and the affected organs with mets might be treatable by another method like radiation.
I really don't know much about this, but those are my questions and thoughts. I sincerely hope someone else can chime in with more experience, knowledge, and detail.
Connect
My dads Dr. Said that this wouldn’t be an option. He did folfurinox which didn’t work- then gem/Abrax which also didn’t work. He just passed away august 5th after a 7 month battle.