Need Chemo?

[Liza514]

I am new to this group. My husband recently had a right hemicolotomy and is Stage 2 T3N0M0. Does this mean he will or will not need chemo therapy? It seems as though there are conflicting opinions on this and wondered if anyone has any advice.
Thank you

[SEWHAPPY]

Sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis, but glad you found this forum for support and information. My situation is a little different - I was staged at T4NOMO. I chose to go ahead with chemo because my tumor was considered aggressive - it had already spread out of the colon to an ovary and fallopian tube. Both my surgeon and oncologist recommended chemo and I agreed. It is not fun, but I want to be sure that I do everything I can to be sure this does not come back. Ask lots of questions about both options! Best of luck, Laurie

[peanut_8]

Hi Liza

Sorry about your husband's diagnosis.

You're right about the controversial nature of adjuvant chemo for stage 2 folks.

I think generally if you're in the US, your husband's oncologist will recommend chemo. Possibly FOLFOX or Xeloda. If he has additional negative prognostic factors such as, bad surgical margins, less than 12 lymph nodes taken, lymphovascular invasion, or an aggressive tumor type, he will be more likely to get chemo.

You can read more about prognostic factors here...http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-informat ... ?region=on.

Have you discussed this with his oncologist, and has he made any recommendations?

Best Wishes,
peanut

[Beckster]

I am new to this group. My husband recently had a right hemicolotomy and is Stage 2 T3N0M0. Does this mean he will or will not need chemo therapy? It seems as though there are conflicting opinions on this and wondered if anyone has any advice.
Thank you

As you can see from the signature below, I was also diagnosed with Stage 2A, which is T3N0M0 (right hemi). However, when the pathology report is available, you need to see if your husband has any high risk features (T4 tumor, LVI or PI, less than 12 lymph nodes, obstruction, high grade or perforation). If he as none of the listed indicators, he would be considered low risk and probably not have chemo. However, if he has any of the indicators listed, the oncologist would recommend chemo, such as Folfox (FU/5 with Oxaliplatin or Xeloda monotherapy. I had 2 high risk features, so the oncologist recommended chemo as a preventative to give the best chance of no recurrence. I started with Folfox, but had a reaction to Oxaliplatin. Now I am only taking Xeloda (oral medication) for 8 cycles.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to email me.

[DarknessEmbraced]

I'm sorry for your husband's diagnosis!*hugs* I was diagnosed as stage 2a, T3N0M). Clear margins, lymph vascular invasion undetermined. My tumor was 5.8cm and was at the junction of my rectum and sigmoid. Chemo wasn't recommended for me because my cancer is considered low risk. I had my surgery in 2014 and have been in remission(NED) since then.

[SurvivorsSpouse]

Hello,

My wife was diagnosed 8/2012 with surgery 9/2012. Her onc and surgeon recommended no chemo because of low risk factors. She was given the choice but encouraged not to do it.

Stage 2a (focal) T3N0M0 with 22 lymph nodes taken tumor was 2 cm and located 12cm from the verge (at the rectosigmoid junction). NED since.

[Deb m]

My husband was also a stage II. We did the chemo because he was a T4a. He did 6mo/12hits of folfox . Wasn't easy, but did ok. Were a little over 6 years from surgery being ned the entire time.

Hope all goes well for you,

Debm

[Green Tea]

There is a member here who went through the same decision process but.made use of the OncotypeDX test to determine whether chemo would be beneficial in his case,

One of his posts is here:
..http://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43923&p=314246#p314246

You can learn about OncotypeDX test by going to their website:

http://www.oncotypedx.com/#tabs-2

[Swirdfish]

With reviewing the statistics stage 2a sometimes has an overall poorer outcome then stage 3a? Why may you ask, I though it was all about if a stage 2a had chemo or not. For me this was enough to go through chemo,