please help with tx.options for cholangiocarcinoma

my husband was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma.he was scheduled for a resection of the liver mass on 09/02/08 however a cardiac cath revealed 95% blockage of the circumflex and 80% of the lad thus surgery now is not an option because of the cardiac risks.we have been followed by the hillman cancer center in pittsburgh.however,because of the physician's office not getting back to us x 1 week with our options  because of the cath results,i phoned and emailed dr.david geller--also upmc at the liver cancer center.i read about dr.geller on this message board.dr.geller emailed me w/in 5 hrs.and reviewed by husband's case.we are to see his associate,dr.gamblin on 09/15/08.in the interim,the hillman center finally called us and we saw the physician there on 09/11/08.he wants to do the hepatic infusion pump on 09/19/08.we told him about our appt.on the 15th w dr.geller's associate and he became what appeared to be irritated and said that dr.gamblin will want to do chemoembolization.i have done so much research on both of these procedures that we don't know what to do.can anyone share their experiences with either of these tx's? please! and thank you so much 

Direct hepatic infusion pump and TACE are both valid therapies. When you meet with the Dr. you should also ask about ablation therapies, like radiofrequency ablation, or the newer chemotherapies like gemcitabine and Tarceva.

 Asking  other people about their experience might be interesting, but it will not translate into a similar result for you. Each person reacts differently to different therapies.

I had TACE done last February. It stabilized the tumors, but did not shrink them. The drawback of TACE is that it can only be performed a limited number of times. Also, I had a very strong inflammation response to the TACE, which was very, very painful.

 I am now doing very well on cisplatin and gemcitabine every 3 weeks, with Tarceva every day.

A great place for you to look for information is the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation. You can find them easily with a Google search or other web search engine.

Good luck to you!

 

On 9/14/2008 violarob wrote:

Direct hepatic infusion pump and TACE are both valid therapies. When you meet with the Dr. you should also ask about ablation therapies, like radiofrequency ablation, or the newer chemotherapies like gemcitabine and Tarceva.

 Asking  other people about their experience might be interesting, but it will not translate into a similar result for you. Each person reacts differently to different therapies.

I had TACE done last February. It stabilized the tumors, but did not shrink them. The drawback of TACE is that it can only be performed a limited number of times. Also, I had a very strong inflammation response to the TACE, which was very, very painful.

 I am now doing very well on cisplatin and gemcitabine every 3 weeks, with Tarceva every day.

A great place for you to look for information is the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation. You can find them easily with a Google search or other web search engine.

Good luck to you!

thank you so much for your help.we really did not know what to ask when we see the dr.tomorrow.