Liver Resection Vs. Other Treatments?

Hello,

I'm just wondering if anyone wishes to share their experience if you've had metastases to the liver after rectal cancer (or any cancer), then needed liver resection surgery.  I'm also very curious about liver resection surgery vs. treating liver tumors with other means such as cyberknife, cryotherapy, or radio frequency ablation.

I meet with the liver specialist at UCSD this Thursday, May 1st & I know he'll want to push the resection.  It seems to make more sense, but I'm wondering if it might be possible to treat with other noninvasive methods instead.

My situation is that I had stage IV rectal cancer with mets to both liver & lungs.  I had amazing results to my chemo (and I believe God's touch, for sure!)  My rectal tumor is now completely gone, everything in my lungs is gone, & I'm down from 12 liver tumors to just 3!  These 3 no longer show up "hot" on the PET scan.  I know they need to come out, but am wondering which is the best approach.  Mr Dr. proposes removing the entire left lobe of the liver (2 of the 3 tumors are there) and doing a wedge resection on the right lobe for the other tumor.  I formerly had multiple other tumors in both lobes, which have now completely resolved, with the exception of these 3.  The largest of the 3 now measures 2.7 cm. across.

Any advice or sharing of stories would be appreciated- also anyone who had liver resection such as this- how long did it take you to recover both internally, energy wise, and so far as the cut/scar?  I'm 41 yrs old & have done very well with my chemo and not having many side effects, so I hope that I would heal pretty quickly.

Thanks in advance,

Hi,

Im so soryy for your situation and I cant help myself but there is a wonderfull site www.cancercompass.com. Sign up for the colocn cancer list and give the same story. There is very informed help by the thousands on that site. If you have any trouble signing on email  me at

 and I will help you get signed on.

Toni

I have had two liver resections and one radio frequency ablation procedure.  During the first liver resection they took almost all of the right lobe and did a wedge resection on the left lobe.  It took me 6-8 weeks to recover.  I also had colo-rectal surgery to remove a large tumor from the sigmoid junction at the same time.

The second time I only had a single liver tumor and they did a wedge resection on the right lobe.  I was pretty much recovered in 6 weeks.  I did not find recovery from either of these surgeries to be particularly difficult.

After another recurrence with three tumors only a few months later we decided to try RFA.  I had both chemoembolization and RFA which seemed to be effective on the three tumors treated.  However, my recovery from RFA did not turn out to be as easy as anticipated.  I was hospitalized twice for internal bleeding after the RFA and it was 6 weeks before I was well.  The first internal bleed was actually life threatening which neither of the surgeries turned out to be.

Surgery is considered to be the best option for a cure.  I would go for the surgery based on my experiences.

Sally

Hi Sally,

Thanks for sharing your information with me!  I think the more information I read or hear about before meeting with the liver specialist Thursday the better.  Anyone else????????

Lisa

Hi Toni,

 I actually posted this same message/questions on this cancer compass site under three categories- liver cancer, colon cancer, and rectal cancer, in hopes of getting as much information as possible from people who may have had experience with treating liver tumors. I also do get the cancer compass monthly email newsletter as well.

Thanks for the advice!

Lisa

Hi,

This is Lisa again. I'm writing again today (6/20/08) for the sake of anyone else who reads this and is wondering themselves about surgery vs. other treatments.  I had the liver resection surgery 4 weeks ago today & am glad I chose the surgery.  It turns out that 3 additional tumors were found during surgery, which had never shown up on any CT scans in the past.  The surgeon said this was because they were small, not very dense, & near the surface of the liver.  If I had some other method however (RFA or Cyberknife), these extra tumors wouldn't have been discovered.  Also, interesting to note that even though nothing lit up anymore on the PET scan, the pathology of the removed tumors all showed up as positive for cancer.  I'm glad I had the surgery!