Sutent With Radiation Treatment

My son-in-law, age 52, was diagnosed on this past Monday. His symptoms were excruciating back pain, fatigue, and "lightining bolts" of pain that shot down both legs when he moved - like to cough or hiccup. His CT scan revealed a mass between his lung and ribcage that was pressing on his spine and another on his left kidney. Head and neck is clear and, so far, no indication that it has invaded any other areas.

The original physician who saw him when he was admitted through the emergency room felt it to be lung cancer metastatic to the kidney and said that kidney to lung is very rare. After reading this message board, it seems to be not so unusual.

They did emergency surgery to remove the tumor from the spinal canal yesterday and repaired the corrosion to 2 vertebrae that had been compromised from the pressure of the tumor. They want him to heal for 2 weeks before starting radiation in the chest area and will start him on Sutent in the next day or so for the kidney mass.

Does this seem reasonable to those of you who have gone down this path before us? We would so appreciate your insight.

did they give you a copy of the pathology report? it certainly sounds like they have good evidence it is metastatic renal cell carcinoma (rcc) since they are starting with Sutent.

Sutent is indicated for advanced rcc. it may help in lung cancer as well, but has not earned the indication yet, as it is still in phase II clinical trials.

if the final pathology report says it is rcc, then i think they are on the right track. if the final report says lung cancer, i think there are better drugs.

a second opinion at a major cancer center is always a good idea. if you want a recommendation, what state do you live in?

It is certainly metastatic rcc but it is not in his lungs. There is a tumor between his rib cage and the pluerum, which was pressing on his spine.

The plan was to move him to the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center but the pain and pressure on his spine prevented transport. After the neurosurgeon cleaned out the spinal canal, they fused two vertebrae that had deteriorated but did not try to remove the remainder of the tumor.

They live in Norman and I had suggested Cancer Treament Centers of America in Tulsa. Since moving him 17 miles up the road was not possible, the 2 hour trip to Tulsa was out of the question.

Thanks so much for your response.

he is only about 400 miles from MD Anderson in texas, which is the number 2 cancer center in the country.

but if he is not ambulatory, he might as well be a million miles away. :-(

at some point in the future i want to believe that he will be ambulatory again. if he decides to seek a second opinion, here is their web page for new patient referrals:
http://www.mdanderson.org/patients_public/new_patients/

Thanks so much for the information. The irony, if that's what you can call it, is that last week OU broke ground on a $200M comprehensive cancer center that will be the equivalent of MD Anderson and will open in 2009.

Our good news today is that he was able to stand up, both legs are working and the pain is far more manageable. We are praying that lots of little victories lead to one big one.