Colonoscopy during treatment for metastatic disease

[KElizabeth]

I think I missed the memo somewhere. Is it standard that annual colonoscopy is suspended while on treatment for metastatic disease?
I scheduled a scope with my GI and she called me today to cancel saying that she talked with my oncologist and they agreed that there was no benefit to getting scoped. She specifically said the would not do anything about what they find anyway since I am currently on treatment . I really was surprised, but I do see some of the reasoning.
How will my oncologist know that nothing is progressing in my colon?

I am also interested to know if there are doctors out there that will do VATS on patients that have disease elsewhere? Has anyone out there had experience with this? I want to chip away and this cancer to buy some time but my oncologist will not even discuss treatment besides chemo with me. He says to just wait for the next scan.

Any information here is greatly appreciated.

[betsydoglover]

I can only tell you my experience. I had a scope while on treatment for met disease in 2005 - only because my diagnostic scope that year couldn't get all the way through due to tumor. Clean then and GI wanted to do another one in 3 years, so we did one in 2008. Next one in 5 years (2013) and now on the 5 year plan.

Most recurrences are in distance organs, not in colon. Not sure if you are rectal or colon - rectal I think is more likely to recur locally.

Not sure about VATS when other disease exists, but VATS was VERY easy surgery for me, and you should probably consult with some thoracic surgeons to get their opinion.

[CRguy]

Is it standard that annual colonoscopy is suspended while on treatment for metastatic disease?
.....
Any information here is greatly appreciated.

I skipped my third annual c-scope when dealing with the lung met, BUTT it was my call in seeing no point until the lung thingie was dealt with.

Don't specifically recall any docs saying it needed to be cancelled, just that I wasn't going to do it then !
I'd had 2 clean scopes and lotsa CTs in the interval so did not feel I was " missing out " on any diagnostics at the time.

best wishes
CRguy

[KElizabeth]

Yes. It's hard to feel like skipping a colonoscopy is "missing out".

[DebZ]

My oncologist said no colonoscopy because I'm on Avastin. There's a risk of bleeding. I see that you're on it too. Could that be one of the reasons they don't want you to have one now?

[KElizabeth]

My oncologist said no colonoscopy because I'm on Avastin. There's a risk of bleeding. I see that you're on it too. Could that be one of the reasons they don't want you to have one now?

You're probably right. I kinda felt like they just didn't care if there were polyps up there at this point.

[H is for Hawk]

My oncologist said colonoscopies during treatment of metastatic disease was unnecessary. At he put it, you have more important issues now, treating the metastatic disease is the prime focus.

[rp1954]

One carefully planned colonscopy in six+ years, while on oral chemo and cimetidine, no Avastin.

With the right chemo toxicity and nutrient balance, careful operations are possible with a minimum of chemo disruption.

[fumaros]

Hi KElizabeth,

It seems like while you are on chemo, esp with Avastin, your ability to heal from injury is impaired significantly making surgery very risky. So even if they found anything, they wont be able to remove it without significant life threatening risks. Except you really want to know if something is wrong without the capability to do anything about it - which that might be okay as well.
A friend of mine who is an oncologist told me that while a person is on chemo there is a lot less of a chance of any tumors forming.

[KElizabeth]

Hi KElizabeth,

It seems like while you are on chemo, esp with Avastin, your ability to heal from injury is impaired significantly making surgery very risky. So even if they found anything, they wont be able to remove it without significant life threatening risks. Except you really want to know if something is wrong without the capability to do anything about it - which that might be okay as well.
A friend of mine who is an oncologist told me that while a person is on chemo there is a lot less of a chance of any tumors forming.

Thank you. That makes me feel better. I've been a big bundle of anxiety lately due to rising CEA. I real had convinced myself there was a new occurrence in the colon. Maybe not so likely now that I hear this.