Gallbladder cancer treatment

I would to enquire about treatment of Gallbladder cancer.

My mother in law has gallbladder cancer and has gone under surgery in Singapore with some sessions of chemotherapy. She is dianosed with T2N1Mx type of gallbladder cancer, I think it is a stage 2b.
 
However, the doctor in Singapore found out that after the surgery, they found that there is still some cancer left over via PET, CT scans and blood test.
 
Hence, they suggested some chemotherapy sessions.
 
However, after some sessions of chemotherapy, the doctor found out that the cancer is not responding with the chemotherapy. Hence, the high result of cancer marker.
 
Finally, they stopped the chemotherapy for about 3 weeks to see the effect of the cancer marker. However, they continue to see an increased in the cancer marker.

 

Consequently, they suggested resuming chemotherapy with the option of a light chemotherapy or a very strong chemotherapy (maybe stronger than OXALIPATIN). Currently, we opt for the light chemotherapy.

 

The Chemotherapy used is as follows:

 

1. The first 3 session of chemotherapy is using GEMCITABINE (light chemotherapy)
2. The fourth session is using OXALIPATIN (stronger chemotherapy)
3. medicine consumed at home: XELODA CAPECITABINE 1300 mg x 2 (morning and night)

We would like to know why after chemotherapy, is the cancer marker still increasing?

 

Also, the doctor in Singapore do not recommend radiotherapy, is there any reason for this?

 

any advice is very much appreciated.

 

Thanks

Joey

I have been on Gemcitabine for 6 years. My CA19-9 goes down each time I get it. I have been on Oxalipation &Xeloda which worked real well until I had a reaction. Along with the Gemcitabine I take Tarceva (100mg) pill each day, I hope this information is helpful. Bill M

Hi Joey. Sorry about your mother-in-law's cancer. The good news (I guess it is good news) is that a T2N1 tumor means that there is no spread to organs around the gallbladder. Bad news is that there is spread to a lymph node, but found in only one, which I guess was unable to be removed from surgery (?). GBC that has spread to a lymph node can be harder to treat, but it sounds like your mother-in-law is getting treated with all the first-line chemo drugs. Gemcitibine and Oxciliplatin can be given at the same time, not alternated, and it would be maybe stronger that way, if your mother-in-law tolerates it. The side effects are usually not that bad. Not good, but not terrible. Ask the oncologists about that. However, of course everyone is different, as Bill M. can tell you. There could be several reasons that radiation is not an option at this time, best to simply ask this question to the team treating your mother-in-law. As far as the cancer markers go, they are only indicators over time, and really cannot give an accurate picture of the extent of the cancer. Best of luck, and keep in touch on this board. Milly

My dad also spread to lymp node. He has bad pain there and cant really eat.  Do you suffer from this too... I need to get some idea coz seem like not many telling me that they have the same issue..