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Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 11:03 am
by skb
Hi,
My latest PET scan lit up a lymph node in pelvic region (retroperitoneal lymph node along right obturator chain). The lymph node in question is 1.2 cm x 1.6 cm (SUVmax=5.8 ). There were no other findings in the PET scan. It has been four years since my first rectal cancer was fully treated. The radiologist calls this a recurrence unless proven otherwise. I have no symptoms.

Has anyone been treated for a solitary lymph node metastasis? If yes, please share details.

Online scientific papers do not have a clear recommendation. Some predict poor prognosis. Some predict good prognosis. My oncologist is still evaluating my results with an interdisciplinary team

skb

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:24 pm
by skb
zap meaning surgical removal? Ablation?

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:15 am
by stu
Hi ,
I would start by trying to find out the best surgeons / radiologist within your area . Consult with them both and hear what they have to say then work out what options give you the best approach to removing it .
Your oncologist should be able to help identify them for you ! Then you are fully informed and part of the decision making process . It is also very informative and reassuring to hear what both are achieving in their fields !
take care ,
Stu

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:53 am
by rp1954
skb wrote:Online scientific papers do not have a clear recommendation. Some predict poor prognosis. Some predict good prognosis.

It all depends on the metastatic qualities of your cancer, situation and prior treatment. 4 years is a positive aspect.

A solitary node, or even a single site, has statistical odds of curative surgical success if more metastases are not occurring and/or circulating. Basically, conventional chemo has a very limited range of control for cancer in the lymph nodes, with mostly eventual failure. So surgery, while potentially curative alone or in combination, is conventionally considered useless if there is metastatic circulation, or spread beyond one site.

In 2011, recognition of curative surgery for solitary or confined lymph nodes was a brand new thing. In 2010 I had realized this possible situation at the outset - she had what turned out to be a conglomerated, para-aortic lymph node cluster, eager to spread. So we kept my wife on the most active daily chemo we could conjure up for her cells for the first year after her first surgery, and thus, hopefully, no additional escape and mets. In 2011, I encouraged surgeons to consider that her lymph nodes were a controlled, single site (controlled but maybe not so single a met site) but most weren't very interested LN dissection. Finally, I turned one "no" to a "yes" with an ex-MDA thoracic surgeon, then went upscale hospital-wise, and got a better offer from another surgical team.

Her second surgery was not really curative but still great progress; the pathology showed the cancer filaments were bursting out of the lymph node walls as well as shot through the chain of lymph nodes. The surgeon was so alarmed that he was insisting on her restarting chemo 5 days after surgery (vs the usual 2-6 weeks).

Faster on the draw, we had gotten her chemo re-started after 1 day (we were willing to bend the rules, by more technical means). It still took us 7 years of chronomodulated, immunochemo to burn the rest out. Fortunately that personalized approach to chronomodulated, immunochemo allowed less wear and tear on the body (and wallet), with a more cidal action on her cancer cells.

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 7:09 am
by skb
Thanks a lot for your detailed response rp1954

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 7:04 am
by Dennyp
I had a recurrence to a single common iliac lymph node. My initial tumor was in my sigmoid colon. I had surgery to remove May 2019. Followed by 6 months of FOLFOx. Ct scan picked up the lymph node tumor in June 2020, had 5 rounds of FOLFIRI. CT showed shrinkage of the tumor. I had surgery January 2021 to remove the lymph node. I have had 2 clear scans since my last surgery. There is very little data on recurrences like ours, the few cases I have read indicate a good outcome with surgery. My oncologist and surgeon described my surgery as curative, so the hope is chemo and surgery got it all. Keeping my fingers crossed! Good luck!

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 9:49 am
by skb
Thank you DennyP. It was such a welcome thing to see your message.

I hope both of us stay disease free and live longer.

Could you please share details of where you got your surgical treatment and if it was laparoscopic? How long was the recovery? What were the side effects of FOLFIRI?

skb

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 1:44 pm
by Dennyp
skb wrote:Thank you DennyP. It was such a welcome thing to see your message.

I hope both of us stay disease free and live longer.

Could you please share details of where you got your surgical treatment and if it was laparoscopic? How long was the recovery? What were the side effects of FOLFIRI?

skb


I was treated at MSK in NYC, I had open surgery. The recover was easier than the recovery from my first surgery. I had a complication during the second surgery that caused me to have to be in the hospital for 5 days. But overall it was easier than the first surgery.

I sailed through FOLFOX easily. FOLFIRI was a little more challenging for me, I had a rare side effect that caused me to feel as if my tongue was swollen although it was not, very strange. They extended the infusion time to one hour which took care of that side effect. However I felt dizzy and Like I was drunk while I was being infused, it was an unpleasant feeling. That side effect persisted for the duration of my treatment.

I’m sure we’ll be fine! Best of luck!

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:10 pm
by skb
stu wrote:Hi ,
I would start by trying to find out the best surgeons / radiologist within your area . Consult with them both and hear what they have to say then work out what options give you the best approach to removing it .
Your oncologist should be able to help identify them for you ! Then you are fully informed and part of the decision making process . It is also very informative and reassuring to hear what both are achieving in their fields !
take care ,
Stu

Thank you Stu for your advice. I will seek the help of people dear and near to me and get the help of best surgeon/radiologist

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:18 am
by skb
A biopsy confirmed metastasis to retroperitoneal obturator lymph node :(

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 7:58 pm
by Dennyp
skb wrote:A biopsy confirmed metastasis to retroperitoneal obturator lymph node :(



I am very sorry to hear that. Do you have a treatment plan yet?

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 7:41 am
by Sevilla2023
Hello, I wish you to start a treatment as soon as possible. I'm following your story for some period because my mom has kind of the same situation but our oncologist do not ask to do a PET yet... CT only and it's clean for 2 times in a row.
I'm worrying so much about it but what makes me think it's not that bad that at least in our and your cases CEA has been rising for long period and met or whatever we have is not that aggressive..
What do your doctors say about this? How your lymph node is going to be treated?

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:06 am
by skb
Thank you Denny and Sevilla for your kind messages. I am yet to hear from my oncologist on a treatment plan.

I am hoping for a curative plan rather than a palliative plan. I have heard that these pelvic lymph nodes are hard to operate upon. I hope my team finds some surgeon who is willing to perform the surgery.

I am spending a lot of time googling my survival chances. I get upset by seeing the statistics.

I truly appreciate the occasional replies in this thread. It gives me hope. Thank you.

skb

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 12:27 pm
by skb
Sevilla2023 wrote:Hello, I wish you to start a treatment as soon as possible. I'm following your story for some period because my mom has kind of the same situation but our oncologist do not ask to do a PET yet... CT only and it's clean for 2 times in a row.
I'm worrying so much about it but what makes me think it's not that bad that at least in our and your cases CEA has been rising for long period and met or whatever we have is not that aggressive..
What do your doctors say about this? How your lymph node is going to be treated?


Sevilla2023,
Before the PET and biopsy confirmed cancer, I was thinking that the rising CEA could be something triggered by Covid vaccine or it could be because of lab test assay getting old and recording erroneous values. I was wrong. Did your mother get a Covid vaccine early this year? Was there some other infection or sickness? All those could raise CEA.

Re: Solitary lymph node metastasis: treatment options

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 1:10 pm
by Sevilla2023
skb wrote:Sevilla2023,
Before the PET and biopsy confirmed cancer, I was thinking that the rising CEA could be something triggered by Covid vaccine or it could be because of lab test assay getting old and recording erroneous values. I was wrong. Did your mother get a Covid vaccine early this year? Was there some other infection or sickness? All those could raise CEA.


The problem is that this is not one-time spike, CEA has been rising since January and until now. And while CT is clear, our oncologist is also trying to find some explanations, for example she saw some small things in lungs CT and made an assumption that my mom had COVID pneumonia and that's the reason of high CEA. But still CEA is rising and the real reason not found.
Also my mom's glucose level started to rise at a time CEA started to rise also, I found some info about diabetes influence on CEA but it's not very common and she has not that high values... So I'm preparing myself for the worst while hoping for the best.

skb wrote:I am spending a lot of time googling my survival chances. I get upset by seeing the statistics.


Sorry to hear that. I don't know much info about lymph node mets, seems like it's a rare case. So what statistics says?