Avastin for ovarian cancer

I too have been diagnosed with OC in Aug. 07. Had the full de-bulking operation and began chemo in Oct. 07, Cisplatin and Taxol to be exact.Had to stop one session short due to kidney failure, went into the hospital for hydration for 1 week and came out with sever Nueropathy in legs and arms. Altho it was a ride to remember I have been slowly coming out of the Nueropathy grip enough to be able to work for about a year now, and my kidneys bounced back in fine shape. Now it's Aug. 09 - thought I had a clean slate for a while but the "C" man's come a callin again. Just heard about Avastin bout /2 an hour ago so I thought I'd join in. I'm gonna try it if my doc says yeah and I'll keep you posted as to my progress. Thanks to all of you for the input I've found here.

Fighting on,

Viking woman

 

On 4/25/2009 kattale wrote:

After nearly a year of no chemo treatments, I am going back in again for new chemo and staying with the avastin as well. The chemo seems to work well, but with side effects and not long results. The avastin has lenghthened my remission from cancer, but sadly not eliminated it. I go back in for more next week and will rescan in a couple of months. Check my blog for new postings www.kattale.blogspot.com for the progress.

It is now August and our new plan eliminates the Avastin as one malignant cancerous spot is still resistant and growing in spite of chemo treatments that include Avastin. The FDA approved drug list for ovarian cancer is short, but we are hopeful that one of those drug combos (now on Cisplatin and Gemsar=sp?) will be more successful. Since the cost of continued Avastin treatments is so high and the results now deemed unsucessful for me, I may never know if it worked for the year I was in remission.  Worth the stressful battle with the insurance co and eventual cost? If it helps just one person in the future, "yes".

 

 

On 6/23/2009 marriedtomugs wrote:

 

On 6/16/2009 Lisaandallen wrote:

My wife has had stage 4 ovarian cancer for four years. Our doctor wants us to try Avastin but our insurance (Blue Cross) does not cover it. We don't have an advocate and are not sure about how to get one. So far our insurance has covered everything so now we are not sure how to go about fighting the insurance company. Any help?

My wife also has III-C OvCa.  DX in Aug 2005.  Had the usual surgeries, and endless chemo treatments.  Now at the end of any drugs that have been approved for Ovarian, and none have been effective.  We suggested avastin to the Oncologist, and she has been successful in getting compassionate usage approved, provided free by the drug company.  Requirement was that our line 37 on 1040 Tax return had to be less than $100,000 dollars.  I did not see the application as the Drs. office completed and forwarded to the mfgr.  I suspect was the usual type of application, but key seemed to have been that was submitted by the dr. office.  The drug company called yesterday and asked us to fax the 1040, and said that if line 37 was below the threshold, we/she had been approved.   I hope this info was helpful.  Our health coverage did not cover chemo therapy, and we have been getting many of these drugs provided by the various companies on their advocacy programs.  I suggest contacting your hospital/health provider and seek out their pharm. advocate for non-insured.  It has been very helpful. 

 On a side note, we are not sure whether to try avastin due to the danger of bowel perforations, and the efficacy for single agent only seems to be about 10%.  Does anyone have any insight? The Doc wants to do single agent as all other drugs have been ineffective.

Married tomugs... thanks for posting your reply.  My wife has been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer for 3 years now. We have gone through the usual chemo therapys (currently Taxol).  We have tried to get approval for Avastin so far without success from Blue Cross Blue Shield who is administrating our health care plan for General Electric.  Just yesterday we received  a second denial which was very upsetting.  We do currently have an advocate looking into other alternatives for funds.  If you have any more information about how the manufacturer looks at applications for help it would be greatly appreciated. We will certainly pass on your information to our advocate.

Thanks again

 

 

 

I was dx with oc 3 yrs ago. Had the standard treatment, carboplatin and taxol, was in remission for a year, then had a recurrence and was on doxil for 2 rounds, which didn't help, then was on a clinical trial for 15 months which shrunk the tumors and kept them stable. Now they have started to grow in another area and I have just started on avastin every 2 weeks and cytoxin, which is a pill I take every day. Has anyone else out there had this drug combo? Also, my dr told me if my insurance didn't cover avastin, the drug company would if I made less than 100K/year.

Dear Friend,

      My mother (Age 64) and mother's sister (Age 46)were diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer within 6 months of one another.  My mother followed the standard protocol for treating ovarian cancer without success and she died two years from diagnosis. My aunt on the other hand was offered Avastin in conjunction with Doxel and has been doing remarkable!! Her pelvic tumor has shrunk by 50%, she is working, and feeling great!!  Please note also my aunt was found to be Vitamin D deficient and started taking supplements to improve her D level.  There are many studies indicating a relationship to Vit D deficiency and cancer development.  I will pray the Avastin destroys your cancer as it is working remarkably for my Aunt.  Keep in Touch!!

 

On Apr 15, 2008 12:00 AM freebird64 wrote:

I am a 43 year old with metastatic ovarian cancer that has spread to areas around the abdomen/pelvis and lungs.   I was previously treated with carboplatnin and doxel, then topotekan (hycamptin).  Now my oncologist wants to try Avastin.  My surgeon/oncologist told me that Avastin should be combined with another chemo drug such as Gemsar.  
Has anyone here used Avastin?  From what I gather, it's mainly used to treat colon cancers, but some success has been found in it's use for ovarian.  Thanks!

Hello, My wife has metastatic ovarian cancer in her chest wall between the pleura and the lung. Cis-platin and Gemzar with Taxol didn't work. They then tried Doxil and that didn't work. Now they want to try Topotecan along with Avastin. I'm concerned with Avastin's side effects since a range of of from about 8 to 21% of patients had to stop using Avastin due to various side effects.  Has anyone on this discussion had experience with Avastin and metastatic ovarian cancer. I'd be interested in hear anecdotes knowing that we all react differently. Thanks everyone.