CancerCompass message board discussion started by mimi7 on 7/4/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,25709,0.htm Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ I am a stage 4 colon cancer with mets to lung. I had been on chemo folfox and folfiri for 8 mons but did not shrunk much, a tumor 3x3cm is located on a difficult position. Hibert suggested me to look into cyber knife treatment. I hurried to do more research on Google and youtube. I do found  lots reports on this very new high-tech treatment. It can treat almost all kinds of tumors . It is a wonderful medical invention. But I wonder why my doctor and my Onc never mention it. My doc also told me radiation is not good for me, don't think about it, cause it will have scar tissue on lung. I like to ask is anyone has tried it? How it works? How do you feel? Is insurance covers that? I gues must be very expensive. And which hospital offer this cyber knife radiation?    mimi7 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hi!My husband Ron was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer with 8 mets to his liver in July 2005. After 3 chemo sessions he was able to have  surgery on the colon and liver in November 2005 (done at Mayo). 65% of his liver was removed. RFA was done on an inoperable spot on the remaining liver. After 9 more chemos he was OK until August 2006 when a CT showed the same spot was active. He had RFA again that month. Everything was good until April of 2007 when a CT and PET showed the same old spot plus a nearby lymph node. Mayo wanted Ron to do a trial that involved radio-active spheres. No mention was made of cyberknife - probably because Mayo doesn't have the machine. I was somewhat familiar with cyberknife because a friend of a relative had good luck with the treatment for pancreatic cancer. We checked it out - the closest location was in St. John's in St.Paul. If you goggle cyberknife you will find locations across the country that offer the procedure. Ron was given a 95% chance of success for the treatment after his records were examined so the decision was a no-brainer. The process after lots of preliminaries included the insertion of steel fiducials to mark the spots and 6 actual treatments that were non-invasive and painless with few side effects. From start to finish it took about two months. After the cyberknife Ron had 6 more chemos because of the new involvement he had.  He has had 2 clear PETS and has one again next Friday. We no longer see the oncologist at Mayo. We went back after the procedure and he still wanted to do the trial - despite the fact that the cyberknife was successful.  Ron now sees an oncologist that works with his cyberknife doctors.I would encourage you to see if you qualify for cyberknife. We know of several others from our area that have had it recently. I know of two others that contacted St. John's, forwarded their records, and were told they couldn't be helped. So...they tell it like it is. The cost is high. Ron's bill for the 6 treatments - 3 for each spot - was $235,000. The hospital negotiated with our insurance company and all of the bill was paid. We initially asked the doctors about price and they told us they work with the insurance companies and have not turned anyone away because of $$$$.Good luck!   wisconsincancerwife Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Dear Wisconsincancerswife,Thank you very much for your reply. It is a very helpful information. I am glad  your husband has good result on it.  I will definitely  talk to my family and my doc  to learn more about it. But I get an expression that my doc in MDA and onc in my area do not favor for that. When I explore all kinds of options with them, they never mention cyberknife. They want me to go longer miles on each line of Chemo until run out. My case is not that complicated. My colon is clean free of tumor, only two spots in the lung what they said closed to alorta and not good for surgery. I do respond well with chemo. They made me feel very very sick.  Sounds like cyberknife can help me.I had google  cyberknife and also found videos on Youtube . Many of them like commercial promotion. I just wonder  if this is a great high tech medical magic and can help lots of cancer patients, why it needs commercial pro? why many onc do not highly recommand?  Is there anyone not happy on it? Is it true you will get more tumors come out after that?   It is a silly question, I 'm sorry.Mimi    mimi7 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Correction . I said I do not respond well in my chemo folfox and folfori. It shrunk a bit in the beginning, then remained unchange for 6 mons. Good things is no new growth. But chemo made me very very sick.Mimi   mimi7 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT  On 7/4/2008 mimi7 wrote:I am a stage 4 colon cancer with mets to lung. I had been on chemo folfox and folfiri for 8 mons but did not shrunk much, a tumor 3x3cm is located on a difficult position. Hibert suggested me to look into cyber knife treatment. I hurried to do more research on Google and youtube. I do found  lots reports on this very new high-tech treatment. It can treat almost all kinds of tumors . It is a wonderful medical invention. But I wonder why my doctor and my Onc never mention it. My doc also told me radiation is not good for me, don't think about it, cause it will have scar tissue on lung. I like to ask is anyone has tried it? How it works? How do you feel? Is insurance covers that? I gues must be very expensive. And which hospital offer this cyber knife radiation?    I've had Cyberknife for Stage 4 colon cancer which metastasized to the lung.  I had the left lung lesion cyberknifed.  There are few side effects, fatigue is one of them.  It works great.  There are only six places in the U.S. that do this procedure.  Fortunately, I live in one of those states.  I now have a right lung lesion which cannot be Cyberknifed because it is too close to the heart, so I guess it's back to chemo.  I'm thinking of getting a second opinion, though.  Does anyone know of a good place to go close to Wichita, Kansas? Tstuee Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hello,Where do you live?  I'm in San Diego and there are two Cyberknife Centers here.  I imagine you could google cyberknife center locations and find out where they're located.  I can tell you now that most surgeons don't mention cyberknife because they believe only surgery presents a complete cure.  Because cyberknife is so new, there isn't enough long term research or statistics yet to show how patients fare in the years following having cyberknife.  I had looked into it to treat liver tumors, but ended up going with the surgery/liver resection after all and am glad I chose the surgical option (three additional tumors, which had never showed up on any CT scans due to their size and location, were seen and were removed during the surgery).  Now- I still have a 5 mm inactive tumor (no longer shows up on the PET, just the CT) in my lungs.  I may look into cyberknife for that- not sure if that would be an option for it or not.Best wishes to you-Lisa lisaann Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT