I have mucinous pancreas cancer on the tail & I had 2 lesions on my liver. I have been receiving chemo for the past 16 months. During this time, one of my liver lesions kept getting smaller and disappeared. My oncologist presented my case during a web chat about tumors and possible treatments. All the doctors felt I was a good candidate for radioembolization of my liver lesion. This procedure uses very, very tiny glass beads that have radioactive isotopes attached to them. The beads are then placed in a blood vessel near your groin & the beads are placed in the blood vessel that is feeding the lesion. Before this procedure, they map the blood vessels so none of the isotopes end up in the lungs or else where. I had Dr. Sarah White at Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee, Wi. I was told this procedure was usually done for liver cancer patients. I had this done on Feb. 9, I was awake during the procedure but had been given meds to relax me. I was told the main side effect would be feeling very tired & I was very tired most of February! You also need to keep drinking lots of fluids to flush out the liver. Fortunately this only affected 15% of my liver & it's supposed to regenerate. I'm having a CT on Thursday, so Dr. White can see what if anything happened to the liver lesion and I will be seeing her on March 12, to hear the results. I was told the FDA had approved this procedure 6 months ago but they have been using this for over 20 years. My husband & I were blown away when this was explained to us. We are hopeful to see positive results.
This procedure is often termed Y90. I had this in September 2022.
We allowed one month of “chemo wash out” prior to the procedure then I jumped back on it mid October.
It worked really well and it was after a CLUSTER of tumors. Most, if not all became necrotic.
We continued chemo until I had a distal pancreadectomy in December then in February liver resection.
I have since had 1 reoccurrence in the liver which was removed.
Highly recommend mentioning Y90 to your doctors. Mine was easily done in Atlanta. It is done by interventional radiologists.
I found a journal article and sent an email to Dr. Crane. He immediately called me. I wasn’t even a patient yet and he took the time to discuss the procedure with me. I may be headed back for additional radiation for the met on my liver next. Local doctors say they cannot do it but they can at MSK. I wish MSK was closer. I would just go there for all my treatment
Do you happen to have his email still? I tried calling there this morning but they would not let me through to him or give me an email. We are far away as well and I was hoping to have a little prelim info about if my father would be a possible candidate or not for that before we commit to traveling so far.
I found a journal article and sent an email to Dr. Crane. He immediately called me. I wasn’t even a patient yet and he took the time to discuss the procedure with me. I may be headed back for additional radiation for the met on my liver next. Local doctors say they cannot do it but they can at MSK. I wish MSK was closer. I would just go there for all my treatment
@ncteacher
I’m stage 4 as well but discovered a high dose radiation treatment (NOT the same as SBRT that most oncologist know about) at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC. It was 3 full weeks/5 days a week. I was able to be off chemo for 6 mos. Some people have gone considerably longer. There are very few places that do this method and Dr. Christopher Crane at MSK pioneered it so I went there. Maybe worth looking into for your situation. He’s very good at getting back to you and explaining the procedure. And we were set up at Hope Lodge and stayed for free.
I have an inoperative pancreatic Neuroendocrine cancer it’s nonfunctioning hormonally that has metastasized to the liver located in all parts of the pancreas when found both pancreas & liver were enlarged liver tumors were to numerous to count referred to as Swiss cheese.
Hello KC,
Your news is encouraging to hear! If ok, could you please share the pancreatic mutation you have? - BRCA, KRAS (C or D), ATM, PALB? Also tne locations of you our tumor (tail head, lymph nodes, liver I see). Sorry to be so intrusive, but when I share your treatment regimen (5 years) these are the questions my UCLA oncologist will ask me. Thank you in advance!
I have an inoperative pancreatic Neuroendocrine cancer it’s nonfunctioning hormonally that has metastasized to the liver located in all parts of the pancreas when found both pancreas & liver were enlarged liver tumors were to numerous to count referred to as Swiss cheese.
Hello
I was a stage 2 in September 2022 and had surgery at which point DNA was done on some of tissue they extracted. I’m still not clear if KRAS mutations can be found in blood work for those who weren’t able to have surgery. I also have a variant of base 40 in the ATM gene, and a mutation of TP53. I had 12 rounds of 5FU chemo after surgery and a CA19-9 of 6. 4.5 months later during my first quarterly checkup my CA19-9 was rising eventually to 3840. I got an MRI (thanks to sharing of treatment history by markymarkfl); as previously my CT s and PET scan showed nothing but soft tissue that were taken for scar tissue. The MRI showed exocrine metastasis to liver with 2 lesions small in size. In January 2024 I started GAC chemo complex and my ca19-9 is decreasing and 1 liver lesion has shrunk and the other disappeared. I hope this information helps. My plan when chemo no longer becomes effective is to enter a clinical trial.
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I have three liver lesions. I am on Gemcitibine/ Abraxane chemo since last September.
This procedure is often termed Y90. I had this in September 2022.
We allowed one month of “chemo wash out” prior to the procedure then I jumped back on it mid October.
It worked really well and it was after a CLUSTER of tumors. Most, if not all became necrotic.
We continued chemo until I had a distal pancreadectomy in December then in February liver resection.
I have since had 1 reoccurrence in the liver which was removed.
Highly recommend mentioning Y90 to your doctors. Mine was easily done in Atlanta. It is done by interventional radiologists.
I got on the MSK website and requested an appt. If I remember correctly, I was able to send a short description of where I was in treatment.
Do you happen to have his email still? I tried calling there this morning but they would not let me through to him or give me an email. We are far away as well and I was hoping to have a little prelim info about if my father would be a possible candidate or not for that before we commit to traveling so far.
I found a journal article and sent an email to Dr. Crane. He immediately called me. I wasn’t even a patient yet and he took the time to discuss the procedure with me. I may be headed back for additional radiation for the met on my liver next. Local doctors say they cannot do it but they can at MSK. I wish MSK was closer. I would just go there for all my treatment
How did you find this type of radiotherapy? Did you have a Mayo doctor recommend it or did you find it on your own?
Thank goodness for you! I wish you continued good care; you are bviously in good hands.
Hopefully it will; takes a few treatments if it responds.
I have an inoperative pancreatic Neuroendocrine cancer it’s nonfunctioning hormonally that has metastasized to the liver located in all parts of the pancreas when found both pancreas & liver were enlarged liver tumors were to numerous to count referred to as Swiss cheese.
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2 ReactionsPraying my husband's liver lesions shrink with the chemo regimen he is on now
thank you for your information
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