On 2/8/2008 KennyG wrote:
healthy 73 yr old mom diagnosed with klatskins tumor - also cancer in fluids - 10 days ago - she's now depleted energy wise - losing weight - went to ny this week - sanai doctor said cant operate - suggested we see howard bruckner at cabrini - having good success with chemo regimen - then we went to slone w/ mom - slone med onc said she needs to get stronger - than in 2 weeks 1500mg gemcytobine 3 wks on 1 off - he bashed/criticized bruckner and his alternative regimens - then visited with bruckners assoc who described their regimens/approach in greater detail (gflip/gflio/poss others - bevacizumab) and successes - very enthusiastically - then met with columbia top doc who said bruckner is not a quack notwithstanding slones criticism - legitimate controversy re different regimens - now back in phila at good local hosp near her home where she's been treated by nice intelligent med onc (prev at fox chase)who plans to commence chemo monday notwithstanding slones suggestion to wait 2 weeks to get her stronger - he feels like needs to attack cancer in order to help strength - waiting not good idea - med onc open to discuss regimen possibilities today - his own inclination is to start with gemcytobine and the add oxyplatin in a couple weeks if she gets stonger and could handle it - might even be open to diff/more combo's later - should i suggest any diff regimen - what is best out there - most hopeful - how well can it be tolerated - should we go with bruckners gflip or gflio or a variation - is it ok to use local doctor or should we be in ny where a guy like bruckner has seen so many more of these despite the considerable inconvenience/challenge this will pose to my mom - anything else worth trying - bevacizumab? - tarceve? - any other type of therapy like targetted therapy or photodynamics or whatever - i love my mom very much and she could have gone on for another 30 dynamic years!!! - help?!?!
Immediately send your mom's scans to Andrew Keenedy at Wake Radiology in Cary, North carolina. He used yttrium-90 filled resin microspheres to destroy the same tumor your mom has in my wife in Jurly 2007. They call it radioembolization. He has done hundreds of liver tumors and this is a brilliant treatment for Klatskin's tumors. My wife was told the same thing that your mom heard about the tumor being unresectable. Act quickly. Kennedy is the best in the world and can answer all of your questions.
Wayne Parsons
Honolulu