NanoKnife

I agree this website was so valuable in finding and deciding on going ahead with the surgery.  We no it is no guarantee but praying that it will not come back.  Her liver enzymes number is up but nothing showing on scans.  Curious has anyone had this problem and if so what did you find as the problem??  thanks again..  you really have to be your own advocate!!

On Aug 09, 2012 12:34 AM judytibbs wrote:

 The scan showed  the tumor that was nanoknifed was gone but there was a new one close to the site of the nanoknife and another 3 new ones in another area. He then started cetuximab (erbitux) weekly and in March a PET showed NED. He continued with the weekly treatments and in June a PET showed 5+ new tumours and the single one near the nanoknife site. He is now on a  combination of folfox & Cetuximab as his CEA markers were going up. He has just been accepted onto the regorafonib programme and hopes to start that shortly. We have spoken to liver surgeon and, if we can shrink the tumors, there is a chance that he can resect the 5+ tumors and we can have the nanoknife again on the single one. I would recommend nanoknife to anyone if they have the opportunity to have it. My husband may not have had the best result but he is still here 12 months later and feeling well.

 

Did your husband have radiation after nanoknife? I pray that things go well for you.

On Aug 09, 2012 4:10 PM jeanrector1 wrote:

I agree this website was so valuable in finding and deciding on going ahead with the surgery.  We no it is no guarantee but praying that it will not come back.  Her liver enzymes number is up but nothing showing on scans.  Curious has anyone had this problem and if so what did you find as the problem??  thanks again..  you really have to be your own advocate!!

"Elevated liver enzymes may indicate inflammation or damage to cells in the liver. Inflamed or injured liver cells leak higher than normal amounts of certain chemicals, including liver enzymes, into the bloodstream, which can result in elevated liver enzymes on blood tests."

On Aug 09, 2012 3:22 PM shelby1 wrote:

Update on my March 5th question.

My husband had the nanoknife (I.R.E.) in May of 2011 and we are still here today. Our scans show the same mass but a biopsy shows hard lump and no spread. We stayed on chemo for 6 months and are now off. Blood tests every three weeks and CT scans every 3.months "" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://3.months " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">3.months We are planning a Pet Scan soon to confirm everything's O.K. We went to Dr. Watkins and had "open" surgery which is a difficult surgery but we had had half of the surgery during our failed Whipple years ago so we knew most of the hardships of recovery. We have nothing but good things to say about Dr. Watkins, his staff and the hospital at StonyBrook. I learned of Nanoknife from this blog also but that person no longer posts. We are also over one year and holding!!!! Our decision was to go with the "open" procedure .Interventional Radiology is easier but not with a mental stent involvement! We had an "inoperable" tumor- adenocarcinoma at head of pancreas -vein/artery involvement and many previous months of chemo prior. So, right now we can say, we are one of those survivors who may be answering our own question next year!!!!!!!!!

Pat

Sounds great!  Hang in there!

On Aug 09, 2012 1:40 PM joanntd wrote:

Sorry, lost the thread of my message.

To repeat, I had nanoknife in August 2011. Funny stuff on both CT and PET by December but PET started to diminish by April. Still watching the "amorphous mass" but Dr. Kortz, nanoknife surgeon in Denver, says he could repeat nanoknife if necessary. Stay tuned....

Joann

I worry about the dang dead tumor and scar tissue that remains after the Nanoknife.  I wonder if they can go in there and remove it?  It was where the tumor was wrapped around the artery, but would it be easy to remove now?   I personally don't like it being there every time my husband has a CT scan.

No he didn't - our oncologist says that radiation is not suitable for his cancer (who knows). The only radiation type treatment he has had is SIRT which didn't work. Thankyou for your thoughts, cancer is a horrible disease to have to go through but it is comforting to talk to others going through the same thing.

On Aug 08, 2012 11:49 PM Gretchen72404 wrote:

On Aug 08, 2012 11:18 PM wcroeh wrote:

Hi,

I am a pancreatic cancer survivor.  I had nanoknife surgery, by Dr. Robert Martin at Univ. of Louisville, on Jan 16,2012 and right now have no signs of cancer in the CT scan.  I was first diagnosed with inoperable Stage 3B on Feb. 16, 2010.  I had the standard 5FU and radiation as the first treatment, but this did nothing to stop the tumor growth.  Next, I was in a clinical trial at Vanderbilt Univ. for 8 months and then in a clinical trial at Dallas Baylor Sammons Cancer Institute for 7 months.  Both trials stopped the tumor progression for awhile. Then I discovered nanoknife here on the Cancer Compass blog in Dec of 2011.  By this time I am Stage 4A.   I immediately sent my CT scans to Dr. Martin and he said I was a candidate.  To me nanoknife is a miracle machine.   I would probably not be here writing on this blog site if it were not for nanoknife.  If anyone is told they have inoperable PC, I would immediately contact on nanoknife oncolgy surgeon (unfortunatley very few doing pancreatic cancer).   I feel great and had very few complications from the surgery. Hope this helps.  Bill

Hi, Bill! So you are one of the mysterious patients of Dr. Martin!  It is such a shame your cancer went from 3B to 4A before any surgery was done!  So it had spread to some other organ? 

I was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreas at the end of 2011. I have been in Baltimore, from NC, having treatments at JHH for the past 8 months.  The tumor is small, it has not spread, but is wrapped around and artery and bloodvessels.

JHH has just purchased a NanoKnife, but it is not up and running.  I am being referred to Dr. Martin at the University of Louisville.  I am looking forward to recovery and praying for a cure.    Dave

Hi Judy,  Nano knife is not radiation.  I made this same mistake with my sister.  We ruled it out because we were told she had all the radiation she could have.  It is NOT radiation, it is electrocution.  They are not the same and you really should talk with the Dr.'s who do the nano knife to see if he qualifies.  We were also told by our Dr.'s that all the knife (surgery's) were the same and she could not have any more.  So thankful that my sister in law figured this out for us or we would have missed our opportunity.  It is NOT radiation.  please revisit this for your loved one..

Dave will be praying for a great outcome from your surgery.. please update us afterwards:)

Hi Thanks for your reply. My husband has had the nano knife twice, it is radiation that he was not suitable for (according to our onc - see previous messages on this thread). We have an appointment on Tues re regorafenib so are hoping this will be helpful.