mpbser wrote:julie,
I just noticed that you got the HAI pump although you had lung mets. For some reason (in addition to the fact that extrahepatic cancer disqualifies people from the pump trial at MSK) I thought that one cannot get the pump if there are lung mets.
I am curious because a family friend had two lung ablations recently and just yesterday a scan found another tumor on his liver which had been worked on a few months ago. She is at UPenn where Dr. DeMatteo now is and I have heard that he has wanted to start a pump program there. I'm wondering if she might be a candidate.
My two lung mets (a giant one in each lung!) didn't disqualify me for the HAI pump. I had a liver resection, removal of my primary tumor, and the pump implanted in a huge triple 7 1/2 hour surgery shortly after my consultation at MSK. I went back on chemo a few weeks after I recovered. Then three months later, I had double lung surgery plus an ileostomy reversal (another triple procedure). After a short recovery I went back on both chemo in the pump and systemic chemo until I finished my adjuvant treatment.
I would definitely bring this up with Dr. DeMatteo (who's a really great doc!) and see if your friend is a candidate for an HAI pump. If his lung mets have been ablated there's no reason he couldn't have it, as far as I know. He could bring me up as an example and DeMatteo could check with Kemeny for my case file. A lot depends on his current state -- is his current chemo regime working to keep things under control? is his CEA getting lower? what is his genetic profile? etc. -- but it's definitely worth a try.
I think lung mets only really disqualify someone from the
pump clinical trial (because trials are very rigid in their requirements), and otherwise it's up to the oncologist and her team to decide if it's a good move for a particular patient. Aggressive treatment isn't for everyone, but when it works, it's a freaking miracle!
Juliej