Cancer spread to liver

I'll give it to you straight... My Father-in-law passed away in December 2014. Lots of pain. From the time he was diagnosed to the time he passed away was from March to December. Transfer ALL your assets, bank accounts, auto titles, everything to your spouse NOW. Get your affairs/ debts in order NOW. Look into how your health insurance is going to process things. The doctors all said that Liver cancer is "fast & furious." I am so sorry. My experience with my father-in-law was that it took him out of this life very quickly. Talk with your minister now and do alot of praying. I am so sorry... but I thought you deserved at least one answer to your question.

I'm in about the same situation. I was pulled from a trial because of more and larger spots in liver. having biopsy on Wednesday to see if it has become small cell. hoping to still have chemo this week while we wait for results and decide on new new course of treatment.

Hi

Very sorry to hear that about the spread to the liver.

My prostate cancer showed up in my liver almost 2 years ago while on Xtandi. Moved to a combination of Taxotere plus Carboplatin and then cabazitaxel during most of 2015. This year I have been taking a low dose oral chemotherapy called Cytoxan. The liver mets have progressed a bit and were lasted checked in June by CT scan. I also had a liver biopsy last November which showed it was not small cell. I am having a CT scan latter this week.

My cancer and treatment history is outlined in my profile on this site.

This is my personal experience with liver mets yours may be different. I was told the Carboplatin and Cytoxan both target liver mets are both in a related drug family tree.

Prostate cancer that has spread to the liver is called secondary liver cancer. Secondary liver cancer is not the same as primary liver cancer.

I hope this helps

Bill Manning

My husband had a large tumor on his liver found on his final cat scan after he had exhausted all treatments .its not unusual per readings as to where prostate cancer can spread ..

Prostate cancer that had spread to the liver is a serious step forward in the disease progression. You should work very closely with your oncologist to deal with this situation.

Prostate cancer that has spread to the liver is a serious step forward in the disease progression. You should work very closely with your oncologist to deal with this situation.

However, having prostate cancer spread to the liver is not an immediate death sentence, however it is serious as the prognosis can be considered as having worsened with this step.

The first thing is to confirm that what has been seen is in fact is prostate cancer and not some other disease or cancer. The only sure way to know this is with a biopsy, otherwise it is speculation.

Joel

My PCa spread to my liver in 2016. Jevtana did nothing more than to slow the growth. I then had the "Y90" treatment of therasphere radioactive beads and it significantly reduced the cancer and the treatment caused calcification on the cancer that was good. My last PET showed a smaller spot on the liver but at least it was a level 6.5 and not the aggressive 20.0. I go for an MRI on 12/7 for and MRI and office visit with my liver oncologist. This will probably lead to a biopsy to determine if PCa, liver cancer or something else. Very please with "Y90" results especially when over a year ago two oncologist said I had 4-6 months to live.

Prostate cancer usually (always) metastasizes to the bone. Sometimes you can get visceral metastases; mets to the lung or the liver. These are thought of as scarier, but mostly because they are off the main path, and usually later in the progression of the disease. I have heard doctors say that liver mets can be well controlled, take pride in the fact that their patients have them but under control, and the liver is a nice organ that can reproduce itself. Someone must know how many people die of liver faliure that is caused by prostate cancer mets. Not many.

Many trials have as an exclusion criteria: no visceral mets. This is because the drug they are testing is not aimed at that people with visceral mets, and they want the trial population to look like the target population. Don't be put off by this.

Glad to hear that you finally started chemo. I assume its docetaxel. The standard of care changed 18 months ago.

I feel sure that Radium 223 is approved in your case (metastatic to the bone). Hope they mentioned that.

You are in Southern California, so getting to Baltimore is a little inconvenient if not to say expensive. Would you be interested in a study that is directed at clearing out bone mets?

I think TimothyDave misunderstood your post. You don't have liver cancer.

Hello gentlemen, I am speaking from the standpoint of a wife, actually a widow as of Oct. 17, 2015. My dear husband was diagnosed in July 2010 with advanced PC. PSA went from 3.5 one summer to 20.4 the next summer. Primary Care Physician didn't think the 3.5 PSA was any big concern. (I won't elaborate on his poor judgment.) Ray did fine on ADT until July 2013. His PSA jumped rapidly to 93, so oncologist started him on Docetaxel. He had many treatments, some of which were Zytiga, Etoposide + something, Lupron, Jevtana, you name it, and he tried it, all except immunotherapy. Docetaxel did OK until October 2014. He was found to have mets in liver, and then after that pleural effusions (fluid gathers in the pleura - lining of the lungs). Side effects became rampant . . . skin peeling off hands and feet from the excess swelling, loss of appetite, food tasted like cardboard, eyes were constantly watery, or constantly dry, nose was runny, scrotum was enlarged beyond imagination. We went to Duke in Oct. 2014 and were told "one year". I was determined to go to M.D. Anderson, so we saw oncologists April 2015, and again they agreed with Duke . . . "one year or less". Ray said he had no aches or pains, other than just the irritating side effects. In May we went to our final location, Univ. of Ala. at Birmingham. And again they concurred. Suddenly in August Ray's lungs showed microscopic cancer cells in the fluid, so we had a home health nurse come to our home and drain one lung 3 times per week. September 2015 he was hospitalized for 8 days due to an infected leg. After he came back home, things were never the same. He weakened day by day, weight was dropping, and he needed assistance with daily skills. In mid-October of last year, he was hospitalized for 5 days. The 5th day he was transferred to hospice, where he passed away the next morning. It was quite a long 5+ year battle, but he truly did remarkably well, all things considered, until the last 2 months of his life. As someone said, mets from PC to the liver is not called "liver cancer", nor " lung cancer". It was called "PC with mets to the liver (or lung)." The source from where the cancer originated is the type of cancer it is. Even in the 13 months since I lost my husband, newer and newer meds and treatments and clinical trials are appearing. I know Ray did better during the extent of his cancer than a friend who was diagnosed about 4 years previously. That friend passed away as Ray had just been diagnosed. That friend lived a little over 4 years, and Ray made it 5 years & 3 months. Whomever gets the diagnosis of PC now will probably have an even longer length of survival! Blessings are stretching the time out further and further! How wonderful, because one day PC will be a thing of the past, like polio was. Never underestimate the power of medicine . . . and prayer.

Hi everyone --

My name is Lynnette. My husband Doug is currently 70 and had a radical prostatectomy in 2006 with radiation and hormone therapy following surgery. In November 2016, we found out that his cancer had returned and had metastasized to his bones with multiple tumors throughout his spine, hips, femur, shoulder and ribs. He followed up with chemo for six months and continued with monthly lupron and zometa treatments. In January 2017 his liver enzymes had tripled so they performed a liver biopsy and he was diagnosed with small cell liver cancer. He is currently having chemo treatments with carboplatin and etoposide for six cycles every three weeks. He was supposed to start his third cycle this past Monday but his white blood count was only 600 so we will try again next week to see if he can reach the magic 1,000 mark they are looking for to have the treatment. The liver tumors have responded to the chemo shrinking them slightly but his oncologist told us that with small cell cancer the chemo is just to slow down the progression and that my husband had approximately a year to live. Has anyone here had any experience with a similar situation that I can ask questions. I have a lot of anxiety about time passing too quickly and need a little hope to hold onto. Thank you very much for any experience, thoughts or suggestions you may have.

Sincerely,

Lynnette

Dear Anya:

I am sorry that your father is going through metastatic liver cancer as well. No question is too sensitive on this site as we are all leaning on each other for support. In answer to your question, no, my husband was not recommended for Y90 as he has small cell liver cancer and it appears like oatmeal on an xray and there were too many tumors to treat. Doug is doing well--actually better then I could ever have hoped for with all that he is dealing with. He finished six chemo treatments of carboplatin and etosposide and had very minor side effects. His PSAs are down to 2.48 and he is feeling great. He was not a candidate for the new drug Keytruda due to not having the DNA marker needed for it to be covered by his insurance but oncologist said if needed we can try it as a clinical trial later in treatment. Onc also asked if he wanted to continue chemo as his body tolerated it so well but he has opted to give his body a break and he will be checked every month to see when his numbers rise again and then on to the next course of treatment. I hope your father is doing well and please feel free to ask questions any time and hopefully I can help or at least give you some peace of mind that there is hope and treatments still available to your dad.

Sincerely,

Lynnette