Cpt Mac Had Clean Scans

Thanks for those who asked. 

For those that don't know, I was orignially dx with Stage IV cc with mets to the liver in July of '04.  I was given 18 months to live tops, but said I could die at any moment.

I got another opinion, signed up for a clinical trial and have been NED since September of '04.

Yea. 

Thats great news!!  Do you know what your trial drug was?? Thanks 

Hi CPT Mac

l live in Sydney Australia and my cousin in Feb07 was diagnosed with colon cancer.  Her cancer was said to be rare as it was in her upper (small) intestine.  She had surgery and it was removed.  They were 100% confident that they had got it all and recommended chemo as a precaution only.  She did this for 9 months taking it to Nov07.  Throughout that time all her blood counts were normal.  Her colonoscopy in Feb gave her the all clear and her blood counts were still normal.  In March08 my cousin was diagnosed with metastasized liver cancer (tumour 8cm by 5cm) and three tumours in her abdomen, we are not sure of the size.  She also has what was referred to as a “dead piece of cancer” on the lung, god knows what “dead cancer” is.  Today she has commenced chemo again, this will be at home for 8 weeks, every second week on a drip for 46hours. 

Can you advise what your treatment was and can we get it in Australia?  You may not know the answer to the later however at least if we know what it is we can make enquiries. 

I noted someone asked what your trial drug was however I cannot see any additional entries. I beg your response. 

What does NED mean?  You say you “signed up for a clinical trial and have been NED since September of '04”.  What occurred from July to September?

Regards

So,  you'll see my message above, but I wasn't on any new drugs.  The trial involved using these two therapies together for the first time. 

The pump was good because it delivered chemo directly to my liver.  With colon cancer, it is most likely that that is where the cancer will travel to.  However, when they used the pump alone, it didn't carry any chemo to the rest of the body.

So, the Irinotecan worked to deliver chemo to the rest of my body. 

This worked well for me. 

Here is a note from Sloan Kettering about the trial

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/63980.cfm

 Here are the findings.

Researchers found that patients receiving HAI lived longer than those receiving systemic chemotherapy, with a median survival of 24 versus 20 months. In addition, patients receiving HAI had better response rates (47 percent versus 24 percent) and longer time to disease progression in the liver (9.8 months versus 7.3 months).

Patients receiving HAI did not experience the usual side effects associated with systemic therapy such as diarrhea, decreased white blood cell counts, and hair loss. However, because patients on the HAI regimen experienced mild toxicity to the liver, their liver function was monitored closely throughout the duration of treatment to prevent the toxicity from becoming more severe.

The research began in 1996, before chemotherapy drugs such as irinotecan and oxaliplatin were available, so both sets of patients received the standard drugs at the time, fluorouracil and leucovorin, and had access to the newer drugs as they became available.

According to Dr. Kemeny, studies are currently underway at MSKCC using HAI therapy in combination with newer drugs, and response rates appear to be even higher. Furthermore, the addition of HAI therapy is also being investigated in patients with primary liver cancer.

Let me know if you have any more questions.  I just moved into a new house (I helped design it and everything) and spoke at a dinner about my cancer and had two weddings to go to, all in a months time frame, so I've been a bit swamped and apologize for not answering sooner.