Pancreatic Cancer Peritoneal Metastasis

No pain with mine. I'm on Gem + Abrax + Cisplatin (for ATM mutation), and it has kept my tumors (2 on the post-Whipple pancreas and several in peritoneum) under pretty good control for about 14 months. Much better CA19-9 response for me than I got on 12 rounds of pre-Whipple Folfirinox, and much more tolerable.

(Disclaimer: Some folks, at least 3 in this forum, have had severe adverse reactions to G+A. It's a very small % of the total on it, but if you're concerned, you might ask your oncologist to start with a lower than normal dose, or one drug at a time before combining them, to see how you react and allow you to adjust.)

Will you be on a biweekly infusion schedule, 3 weeks on + 1 week off, or other?

Hi and yes it is currently scheduled for 3 weeks on and 1 week off. My Dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer stage 2 (tumors in head and tail) in Nov 2022 at Hoag in Newport Beach. He had a Whipple in Dec 2022, then switched his care to City of Hope in Irvine did six months of 5 FU chemo followed by daily radiation and chemo for six weeks. Then 6 weeks later a single tumor was seen in his peritoneum so he did another 5 weeks of daily radiation. That ended March 20th this year. But he’s been having severe pain so he had a CT done and it’s showing Mets in his liver and peritoneum. But he’s having a lot of pain in his abdomen . I’m hopefully this new chemo will help reduce the pain as it targets the tumors. That you for sharing the above! Very much appreciated!

Yes, I had mild to moderate pain in the abdominal area up until I started receiving the GAC chemo. My recent CT shows the masses are stable and haven’t increased in size. I recently tested positive for CLD-18.2 protein which according to my oncology has showed promising results for gastric cancer. The current clinical trial is for pancreatic cancer and is being held at UCLA in California. When my chemo stops being effective I’m ready to go into the clinical trial which I hope will work on the masses in the peritoneal area.

I am on the Gem Abraxane protocol for peritoneal metastatic lesions from pancreatic cancer and have done most of my doses every two weeks. I could not tolerate the three weeks on, one off routine. I also had to have the dosages reduced by 20%. I weigh about 106 on a good day! My C19-9 is down from 496 to 37 and I have a repeat PetScan scheduled in two weeks. I hope it is great!!

I was on both since January for peritoneal & liver Mets. 2 weeks on, 2 off. My CA-19 went from 3000 to 140 and tumors actually decreased in size. However I developed colitis and had to stop for 4 weeks. No pain though. Just uncomfortable. Began chemo yesterday with just the gem, dropped abrax. Hope it continues to be successful. I also developed emphysema from the gem! But guess colitis & emphysema are better than fast growing cancer! I just need more weight! 140 down to 88!

Thank you so much for sharing! It's very much appreciated!

Thanks for sharing!

I would like to add that I’m 66 years old and a have a few other health issues like occasional cardiac sinus arrhythmias when body under stress, high blood pressure, hard diabetes, allergies to all dust etc and asthma. I actually need to bring my weight down a little. My mets was in the liver, abdominal peritoneum, and celiac artery and started out at with CA19-9 at 3840. Liver lesions have shrunk but peritoneal masses are just stable. My CA19-9 is now 22!! I started off with GAC 3:1 schedule, but now am on a 2:2 schedule in order to extend longevity (my husband’s suggestion) to the treatments. When I read how several others are on GAC for so many months I’ve been given such hope (I started in January of this year) as it seems I may be able to see my daughter graduate from college next year in 2025!!! I’ve been active and working part time (outside of a break in early 2023 following my surgery and chemo treatments with fulfirnox). I have so many people praying for me (from many different religions) so my conclusion is in a way you must persevere as if this disease doesn’t exist within you and have faith in God and you will make it through your journey. Granted I did recently sell our home, but did give the majority of profits to our son and daughter and now live even closer to the beach and without any debt now!