Chemo for peritoneal mets?

[Carolinagirl]

Has anyone here had chemo control peritoneal mets for any duration of time? Unfortunately, I have tiny peritoneal mets and surgery does not appear to be an option. I am wondering if chemo can buy me some time or not?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences/history.

[rwightman]

Chemo shrunk my peri mets to the point they could not be seen on CT, although this wasn't long term because I had HIPEC. They say chemo doesn't respond well to peri mets, but that was not the case with me.

Good luck. I would keep at it until maybe surgery becomes an option.

[ktwmn]

I had several peri (and liver) mets (in addition to a new colon tumor) in April and was told I was inoperable. I then took 12 txs of Folofiri and Avastin. I had a pet/ct two weeks ago and there was nothing seen in any of those locations. So, my peri mets also had a remarkable response from chemo.

[Annemiek]

Why is HIPEC not an option? If they are tiny, they should be able to disappear through chemo alone?
Is a second and third opinion in order?

Sorry you have to deal with this..
Annemiek

[Carolinagirl]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I have already had a posterior pelvic exenteration which is a massive surgery so I think there are concerns about how well I would do on HIPEC. My doctors at MDA also seem skeptical that it would be worth it on a cost/benefit analysis. But I will press them on that next week when we meet. That is why I wanted to know if these mets can be controlled with chemo or not. If chemo is not going to do much for me, it may make sense to look into clinical trials now. I have seen the discussion on this board about not waiting to the very end to try to get into a trial so that has me thinking. I am in good shape otherwise--no other signs of cancer in liver or lungs. Labs look good. Exercising etc. Just these pesky peritoneal mets. The literature online is kind of terrifying. Average survival of about 34 weeks? Is that right?? Ugh. Thanks everyone. I knew this day would come eventually. This is just not the poison I would have picked.

[H is for Hawk]

My oncologist stated systemic chemotherapy does not penetrate to peritoneal metastasis very well. Maybe a small portion of patients do OK, depending on the biology of your disease and the size of the tumors, so it is kind of like rolling the dice.

HIPEC only cures a small subset of patients, something in the 30 to 40 per cent range. Those will low tumor burden do best. Some patients don't respond to the mitomycin-C that is circulated during the operation. There are a lot of online medical articles about HIPEC,just google "Dr. Sugarbaker", the guy in Washington DC who developed the procedure.

[rp1954]

We are in the oral chemo + extra off label and naturals camp to keep things tamped down, more on possible lymph nodes and lung/liver thangs after surgery. Peri implant didn't come back after initial treatments before chemo and then chemos forever.

[Scaredoutofmind]

We are in the oral chemo + extra off label and naturals camp to keep things tamped down, more on possible lymph nodes and lung/liver thangs after surgery. Peri implant didn't come back after initial treatments before chemo and then chemos forever.

What off label & naturals do you take?

[ieowi]

MDA do not do hipec for your case, same as dad I discussed that with them they are still not convinced should we wait for them to decide ?
MSKCC may do it I am not sure or still investigating it. Dr sugar baker from Washington is the guy who came up with it.
I have read though a lot of people do fail it. Just from what I read. Some others had a couple of years,
The chemo kept my dad mets for a couple of month he just failed and they are growing now. I have to say though he have a lot of tumors maybe that's why he failed ??!?
MDA will not do hipec it's against there procedures.
Currently we r looking for trials.
I hope u get well.

[justin case]

I had several peri (and liver) mets (in addition to a new colon tumor) in April and was told I was inoperable. I then took 12 txs of Folofiri and Avastin. I had a pet/ct two weeks ago and there was nothing seen in any of those locations. So, my peri mets also had a remarkable response from chemo.

Hey blue eyes, I'm glad it worked for you! Sometimes the ball falls in your court
Michael

[ktwmn]

Hey blue eyes, I'm glad it worked for you! Sometimes the ball falls in your court
Michael

Thanks, Michael! My oncologist had tears in his eyes after we read the report.

[Steph20021]

HIPEC only cures a small subset of patients, something in the 30 to 40 per cent range.

does anybody have an article that shows the numbers/stats/odds for those cured with hipec that were able to achieve complete cytoreduction? I have been looking for this for a while and haven't found anything, nor anything that suggests how much time it extends ones life for. Thanks in advance.

[Scaredoutofmind]

We were told HIPEC not effective for signet cell peri mets. Anyone else?

[tigerpaw]

Steph 20021, if you google the french surgeon Olivier Glehen in Lyon, you will find a slide show with a lot of stats on HIPEC. Seems that they see a 50% 5 year survival rate and 16% cure rate in patients with limited peritoneal disease and no cancer ouside abdomen, if all macroscopic cancer is removed during surgery. I had my surgery in Norway, and I was accepted although I had one lung met. 8 months later, I have no sign of peritoneal recurrence, I am working full time and feel great.

[Steph20021]

Thank you tigerpaw I'll be looking that up now. It is precisely the kind of information I am looking for. I hope you continue to feel and do well and that we both land in that 16% cure group.