RFA / CYBERKNIFE for lung nodule

[JAIN DB]

Dear Friends

What are your experiences on Radio Frequency Ablation / Cyberknife technique to remove a solitry nodule from the lung which is 1.6 cm dia . My father has rectal cancer and this is the met.
ritu

[EBMJ]

All I can really say for sure is that one is less invasive than the other. What are the opinions of your Oncologist & Radiologist ? Is your dad on chemo ? I have 3 small lung mets, each less then 5 mm. They started out over 1 cm. They have responded very well to chemo, so for now my radiologist will not touch them. They are also getting so small it makes them hard to pinpoint with radiation. So we are in a wait see mode on them, they may be dead at this point, time will tell. Maybe for your 68 year old dad, the Cyberknife would be easier for him to tolerate.

Jim

[JAIN DB]

My dad is on pre surgery chemo of Erbitux and Folfox. The oncologist recommends that after two months they would like to do a rectal and a lung surgery together. I think at his age my father will not be able to take it. So I thought we could do a RFA/ Cyberknife for the lung and then a rectal surgery. His lung nodule is 1.6 cm dia. He is hoping that it may dissolve with Chemo. If it does do they still go ahead with lung surgery?

thanks
ritu

[justsing]

I just had a consult with the radiation and thoracic folk last week. Here's the link to my post

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7830

Short answers:

RFA will involve incisions and is no less invasive than a wedge resection done with VATS.
Cyberknife is also "not benign" as they said to me MANY times. There is a 25% risk of a collapsed lung, among other things.

So I'm not looking to do any of these things any time soon.

[JAIN DB]

is it necessary to do a lung resection for a met? What is Lung wedge resection with VATS? does it require hospital stay or is it a day procedure like RFA
thanks
ritu

[Terry]

Jain I'm going to butt into your post. I was diagnosed with stage II 7/3 and now it looks like I have lung mets. They are very small. I'm interested in the question you just posted about if they have to be removed. From an earlier post it looks like they try to get rid of them with chemo first. I also see that some of you have had different chemos. How do you know for sure which is the best? Folfori? Folfox? Other?

Thanks,
Terry
I'm really having anxiety attacks right now.

[justsing]

I wish to stand corrected. In most situations, RFA is much less invasive than VATS. Both of the mets that they would go after in MY lungs are quite deep and so in MY case they were not recommending RFA because it would be a big deal.

[JAIN DB]

Terry,
As my father's lung nodule seems to be a metastat of the rectal cancer he is on the Erbutex and Folfox regimen. I suppose that would help taking down the lung nodule.

ritu

[JAIN DB]

thanks Justsing for your advise. Will shortly meet up with a RFA specialist to find out whether my dad is eligible for it.

thanks
ritu

[Julie8116]

Hi all,

I had RFA to my left lung. I had 3 very small nodules 3mm-5mm. One at the top of my top lobe, one at the top of my bottom lobe and one at the bottom of my bottom lobe so they were very well spread out. My RFA procedure was much like my lung biopsy--prone position on the CT machine. I was awake and numbed during the procedure as the radiologist will ask you to breath/hold your breath so he can position the probe. I spent one night in the hospital for observance since it is quite common for the lung to collapse--mine did not. I had 3 small--very small--puncture spots on my back. It took about 2 hours for my 3 nodules. No stitches, only band aids. I went home the next day and worked half the day in my office. My doctor told me he could either "fry or freeze" with RFA. I highly recommend RFA for small nodules. I had to fight my insurance company to cover it, but it was well worth it. This procedure was in Janurary 09, had chemo (5fu and oxciliplatin) through mid May 09. So far the scar tissue from the procedure has shrunk and (fingers crossed) no more spots except for the spot on the right side which has not grown--this spot did not have RFA. My radiologist will only perform RFA on one side of the lung at a time. I have no problem or hesitation doing this procedure again.

God bless you all,
Julie

[Tarsal69]

Yes I am facing same decision I have a .9 cm solitary module left upper lobe an should I have it excused doing a segmentectomy or see if it can be treated with cyber knife I have been Ned for 3 years oh wat to do appreciate any an all thoughts thanks