Why Not Transplant The Liver?

Is there any reason why a family member or friend can not give a portion of there liver to a pt with a non resectable tumor?  They tell me that my fathers ca is non-resectable, however, the primary tumor in the pancreas has not moved.  The problem is in the liver where he has mult. tumors over bilateral lobes.  Doesn't the liver regenerate?  Why can we not remove the primary tumor and transplant the liver? I realize it would be a large procedure but, the alternative is we allow the disease to progress and he will die!  What is the problem with exploring this idea?

Patients with metastatic disease are not surgical candidates because the disease is now systemic and not localized.  In other words, surgery is not an option because the disease would simply return, either in the new liver or somewhere else. 

I asked that very question about my husband. I even asked why we don't just remove the whole pancreas and do a transplant there. The answer  received was that pancreatic cancer is so aggressive that if there are mets to the liver, then there are likely mets to the lymph nodes and therefore there are likely more cancer cells in other parts of the body that have not shown up yet. It is not worthwhile to put the patient through the ordeal of a transplant (to say nothing of the risks to the donor) when the prognosis remains poor. It's a hard thing to hear, I know, but that's what we were told.

The liver transplant isn't an option because the cancer has already moved.

The problem is where it has already potentially "seeded" but growth is not yet visible. Hence if it's already appeared on the liver, it's likely seeded in other places that CT scans etc can't yet see.

I'm going through this right now with my mom, for the 2nd time. The best hope/advise I could offer would be to explore your father's eligibility in clinical trials. Ixabepilone (approved in OCT 07 for metasstic breast cancer), in combination with Erbitux. We were in a stage 2 trial of these drugs until my mother developed an abcess on her liver and missed too many weeks to continue.

When we started the trial, her CA 19-9 was in the 19,000 range; when we stopped it was down to 2,482. A 90% drop, which is commonly unheard of. The jist of the combination of these 2 drugs was that it prevented the "seeding" and "growth".. something some of the other current drugs doesn't do.

We are currently using Gemcitabine & Tarceva; but the results aren't anything close to what we got with Ixabepilone & Erbitux. The doctors will tell you you can't judge the cancer just on the CA 19-9 level, which is true... but you also shouldn't ignore it if the number continues to  increase. It means something is seeding/growing, they may just not be able to see it yet.

I'm desperately trying to get my mother's insurance to approve us switching back to the drugs in the trial. I feel like I'm in a race against an unrelenting clock.

 

On 3/26/2008 Violetincred11 wrote:

The liver transplant isn't an option because the cancer has already moved.

The problem is where it has already potentially "seeded" but growth is not yet visible. Hence if it's already appeared on the liver, it's likely seeded in other places that CT scans etc can't yet see.

I'm going through this right now with my mom, for the 2nd time. The best hope/advise I could offer would be to explore your father's eligibility in clinical trials. Ixabepilone (approved in OCT 07 for metasstic breast cancer), in combination with Erbitux. We were in a stage 2 trial of these drugs until my mother developed an abcess on her liver and missed too many weeks to continue.

When we started the trial, her CA 19-9 was in the 19,000 range; when we stopped it was down to 2,482. A 90% drop, which is commonly unheard of. The jist of the combination of these 2 drugs was that it prevented the "seeding" and "growth".. something some of the other current drugs doesn't do.

We are currently using Gemcitabine & Tarceva; but the results aren't anything close to what we got with Ixabepilone & Erbitux. The doctors will tell you you can't judge the cancer just on the CA 19-9 level, which is true... but you also shouldn't ignore it if the number continues to  increase. It means something is seeding/growing, they may just not be able to see it yet.

I'm desperately trying to get my mother's insurance to approve us switching back to the drugs in the trial. I feel like I'm in a race against an unrelenting clock.

Hi,

Where was your mom doing the clinical trial?

My family member is being treted at Sloan with GTX. His #'s have also dramatically improved.

Good Luck!

Please reply.

Thanks

 

Why not just get rid of the cancer and save the liver - without surgery, radiation, chemo or a transplant?

The chances may be quite good if you make sure that you combine colloidal silver with the three ingredients in the Berkson Clinical Study (milk thistle, alpha lipoic acid, and selenium) and follow this protocol that has has huge success against liver and virtually all other cancers:

http://www.tbyil.com/anticancer.htm

For more information on the Berkson clinical study, refer to

http://www.tbyil.com/berkson.htm

Other good things to do for the live would include a good liver cleanse on a regular basis, a healthy diet that eliminates most meat, bread and processed sugar (but no artificial sweeteners - they CAUSE cancer) and includes lot of raw organic vegetables, organis lecithin (Mountain Rose Herbs has the only organic lecithin not made with harsh chemicals that I know of), beet juice, and coconut oil.

Best of wishes for success!

 

On 3/26/2008 tocco wrote:

Is there any reason why a family member or friend can not give a portion of there liver to a pt with a non resectable tumor?  They tell me that my fathers ca is non-resectable, however, the primary tumor in the pancreas has not moved.  The problem is in the liver where he has mult. tumors over bilateral lobes.  Doesn't the liver regenerate?  Why can we not remove the primary tumor and transplant the liver? I realize it would be a large procedure but, the alternative is we allow the disease to progress and he will die!  What is the problem with exploring this idea?

 

My husband had kidney cancer in 2/07 than had a liver resection in 7/07 when they found primary liver cancer. Vanderbilt has worked him up for a liver transplant but we are in holding mode till the see cancer return. From what I know, the donor must have the same blood type and be the same bodily size as the recipient. Some hospital and/or insurance companies are sometimes relunctant to do liver tramsplant if patient has had another cancer-chance of it returning are always possible and if cancer in original liver is large, the chance is good that the cancer cells have already spread outside the liver and would invade the new liver. A friend of ours(in his 40's) had 80% of his liver removed (miracle he is alive) and they will not do a transplant cause risk of cancer invading new liver is too great.

Keep asking lots of questions and reseaching everything you can. My husband's oncologist said transplant was not an option for him but liver surgeon disagreed & got us in at Vanderbilt & they say he is a good candidate. Good luck to you and your father.

My dad is 76 years old and he found out that he had Klatskin Cancer about one and half year ago.  He had half of his liver removed but the day before yesterday the doctor told us that the cancer came back and he only has two weeks to live.  I am so devastated.  He did not know anything about it.  Today, he was released from the intensive care unit and return to his room in the hospital.

 

On 4/2/2008 SELINE wrote:

My dad is 76 years old and he found out that he had Klatskin Cancer about one and half year ago.  He had half of his liver removed but the day before yesterday the doctor told us that the cancer came back and he only has two weeks to live.  I am so devastated.  He did not know anything about it.  Today, he was released from the intensive care unit and return to his room in the hospital.

 

I am so sorry that you received such terrible news about your dad. We want and expect the medical field to handle all problems that afflict us and our loved ones but sometimes, it is just not possible. Without finding his initial cancer when they did, you would not have had the past 1 1/2 years with him. Try to focus on that and the precious time you have with him.  My husband, age 60 had a liver resection last year and the doctors feel strongly that it will come back. A re-section is not a cure for liver cancer, just a way to buy more time. I will pray for you and your father. Be strong!