Procedure, Has Anyone Ever Heard Of This.

My husband was dx with gallbladder cancer and it was removed and it has spread to the liver & bile duct, they did a procedure on him where they shoot beads to the liver and try and stunt the growth on the bad side and grown the good side.  This takes about 4 weeks, then they are going in and remove the mass.   in the meantime his mass has grown some, I am just concerned that it may grow to the point where they cant operate and I was also told by another doctor, not connected to this case who is a surgeon that anyone dx'd with gallbladder cancer usually does not make it. his docs are a team, they deal mainly with liver and kidney transplants, they do have an oncologist on their team, but he has not seen my husband yet.  Should I be concerned.??? thanks diane

 

On 7/15/2007 Magazine2 wrote:

My husband was dx with gallbladder cancer and it was removed and it has spread to the liver & bile duct, they did a procedure on him where they shoot beads to the liver and try and stunt the growth on the bad side and grown the good side.  This takes about 4 weeks, then they are going in and remove the mass.   in the meantime his mass has grown some, I am just concerned that it may grow to the point where they cant operate and I was also told by another doctor, not connected to this case who is a surgeon that anyone dx'd with gallbladder cancer usually does not make it. his docs are a team, they deal mainly with liver and kidney transplants, they do have an oncologist on their team, but he has not seen my husband yet.  Should I be concerned.??? thanks diane

Diane - I'm sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis.  My dad has GBC.  While I have not heard of this procedure, I would advise that you do get a 2nd opinion.  If you are not currently at a major cancer center (MD Anderson, Johns Hopkins, Sloan Kettering, etc.) I would recommend you try to get an appointment at one of them and bring copies of all of his records.  The best option for GBC is to have surgery - not sure if you know if your husband is a candidate.  Sounds like they are trying to shrink the liver tumor to be resectable.  I am not sure on that possibility or what stage your husband is in but I would push to get a 2nd opinion as soon as you can.

 

 

On 7/16/2007 Gbcdad wrote:

 

On 7/15/2007 Magazine2 wrote:

My husband was dx with gallbladder cancer and it was removed and it has spread to the liver & bile duct, they did a procedure on him where they shoot beads to the liver and try and stunt the growth on the bad side and grown the good side.  This takes about 4 weeks, then they are going in and remove the mass.   in the meantime his mass has grown some, I am just concerned that it may grow to the point where they cant operate and I was also told by another doctor, not connected to this case who is a surgeon that anyone dx'd with gallbladder cancer usually does not make it. his docs are a team, they deal mainly with liver and kidney transplants, they do have an oncologist on their team, but he has not seen my husband yet.  Should I be concerned.??? thanks diane

Diane - I'm sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis.  My dad has GBC.  While I have not heard of this procedure, I would advise that you do get a 2nd opinion.  If you are not currently at a major cancer center (MD Anderson, Johns Hopkins, Sloan Kettering, etc.) I would recommend you try to get an appointment at one of them and bring copies of all of his records.  The best option for GBC is to have surgery - not sure if you know if your husband is a candidate.  Sounds like they are trying to shrink the liver tumor to be resectable.  I am not sure on that possibility or what stage your husband is in but I would push to get a 2nd opinion as soon as you can.

 

 

Hi, thanks so much for the message. He has had the gall bladder removed already, they are trying to make the liver bigger, the good part, and smother (kill the bad part) and then do the surgery.  He is a Barnes Jewish hospital in st. louis and the siteman cancer center.  Although a cancer doctor has not been to see him yet, he will at some point. so we are  just waiting for the surgery.  How is your dad, and did his spread to the liver also, please let me know and thanks so much for your email.  I tried to tell him that we needed to get in touch with John Hopkins or something like that and also there are 4 cancer centers of america located in the united states, do you know anything ab out them.

diane

 

My dad was diagnosed in 12/06 after routine GB removal.  Quite a surprise since he's never been sick.  We quickly got him to an oncologist at Sloan Kettering and got all of the tests done for surgery.  His cancer had spread to his bile duct, liver and duodenum.  So, all of those were removed in resection surgery in March 2006.  He is going back next week for his follow-up.  He has not elected to do any radiation or chemo.  His surgery had clean margins which was the best that we could have hoped for.  It's been a long recovery.  He's tired a lot and has some aches and pains and digestive issues.  Hopefully, we have good news that the cancer has not returned when he gets his scans next week.  There are quite a few patients at Sloan Kettering and I know that Johns Hopkins has a very good program for this as well.  We elected for Sloan due to the proximity to home.  Several people I have communicated with are happy with Johns Hopkins.  There are several websites you should visit.  Johns Hopkins has a discussion board that you should review and there is one on bile duct cancer which is very similar to GBC that is excellent and much more active than this one.  www.cholangiocarcinoma.org   I would assume Mayo Clinic and MD Anderson also have a number of GBC patients.  It is really worth the 2nd opinion. 

 

Hi, and thanks very much.  I hope your dad gets a good report.  I will go to that site and send some messages. 

I do know his mass has grown, and again they surgery will be in around 3-4 weeks and they do not seem concerned that it is growing.  There main concern is that the liver grows and then they can take all of the bad parts out.  how big was your dads mass.

I wish you all the luck in the world and thank you so much for responding to me.

 

diane

 

I think that other site will be very helpful because I believe there are messages about the treatment your husband is having.  I don't think my dad's tumor affected much of the liver at all (on the lining).  They resected segments 4 and 5 which was less than they thought they would need to.  They really didn't know until they were in there what needed to be removed. 

I would ask the drs why they are not concerned that it is growing.  I would have thought that they'd want it to be shrinking.  Are his lymph nodes involved?

 Sending you positive thoughts and prayers. 

 Kelly 

Hi and thanks for your concerns, I have read the report and the latest one they do mention that they see a lymph node, what that means I dont know, and it is new since the last mri.  They said that when I asked them that question about what if it grows in the next 3 weeks and their answer was that if it shows up in the next 3 weeks, it probably was already there, just to small to see, and I dont think they can do much while this process is pending.  His good part of the liver should get bigger and then they can take out the bad part, and leave him with more of a liver, I think they said they could not do surgery now because they had to take to much of the liver and they did not think he could survive on what liver they would leave, that is why they are doing this procedure.  These are suppose to be very good doctors, they are washington university docs and are at Barnes Jewish which is one of the top hospitals, but again you never know what to do.  I dont think he could make the trip to john hopkins right now, he is pretty weak.  So again are we doing the right thing

 

diane

Sounds like the drs are doing what they can to try to make it resectable since it isn't currently.  There are some notes on the other site that I sent you that I see you posted on.  Look under Experiences and SIR Spheres.  I think that is what your husband may have - at least it sounds like it.  Maybe if you post in that string - those folks will have more to share.   As I understand there really are not any "experts" in the US in treating this cancer.  You can use the search on the other site too.  There is one message about a Dr. Chapment at Barnes Jewish doing a follow-up study on some treatments that Mayo had done.

How does your husband feel?  How is he handling the treatment?

Hi, well Dr William Chapman is his doctor.  He is taking it ok... He is weak and I think he hopes that they will be able to help him.  He does not like to talk about it.  I try to get him to eat right, and I know that is very important.

So outside of the united states, are they having more luck with this type of cancer?

Diane 

 

 

 

On 7/15/2007 Magazine2 wrote:

My husband was dx with gallbladder cancer and it was removed and it has spread to the liver & bile duct, they did a procedure on him where they shoot beads to the liver and try and stunt the growth on the bad side and grown the good side.  This takes about 4 weeks, then they are going in and remove the mass.   in the meantime his mass has grown some, I am just concerned that it may grow to the point where they cant operate and I was also told by another doctor, not connected to this case who is a surgeon that anyone dx'd with gallbladder cancer usually does not make it. his docs are a team, they deal mainly with liver and kidney transplants, they do have an oncologist on their team, but he has not seen my husband yet.  Should I be concerned.??? thanks diane

Hello Diane,

I read your message. My mother has stage IV. but it spread to the Lymphe nodes. She only realized this fact after going for gallbladder surgery. Dr. Abu- Alfa at Sloan-Kettering in NYC was very knowledgeable about this type of cancer because it is in his field. He doesn't have the nicest bedside manner but he is an expert. You should try and get an appointment with him as soon as possible. Check out their website on the net. You'll easily find out his number.