Pleural effusion post second round(18 cycles) of Taxotere

[caretkr]

Hi all,

My father just completed 18 cycles of Taxotere, this is his second round of chemo. PSA was rising on Abiraterone too after having failed Enzalutamide one and half year ago. Full history in profile. He was diagnosed with mild pleural effusion in lungs in PSMA PET scan after chemo. Fluid(about 700ml) was drained and cell blocks and tests did not find any cancer cells in fluid. The fluid in lungs seems to have refilled and doctor has suggested VATS biopsy and after one week of antibiotics, started him back on Enzalutamide. Any pointers on what to expect next or any similar experience? he did have small lung mets that showed up on PET scan before this second round of chemo. The recent scan does not show any mets but there was only this pleural effusion in lungs.

[tango65]

If he does not have generalized edema (anasarca) caused by other medical condition or by chemo the pleural fluid could be caused by a pleural reaction to invasion by the cancer.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[j-o-h-n in reply to tango65]

Keytruda for the lungs?

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Friday 12/10/2021 7:29 PM EST

[DenDoc]

I did have a run of malignant pleural effusion in massive amounts. Needed to have an indwelling catheter so I could drain it at home while undergoing chemo. The biopsy is critical and needs to be sent for genetic studies. It will guide further therapy. Mine was determined to be a small cell cancer that had morphed after years of treatments of my adenocarcinoma. See my profile.We are all very different but getting a current tissue diagnosis is critical and will guide next therapy.