CHAMP Trial/Small Cell Chemo Update

[antisocialsocialwrkr]

If you don’t feel like reading my bio, I’ll give a synopsis: My dad is only 53 with advanced metastatic PC that spread to his liver earlier this year. His PSA had been undetectable so it really threw us for a loop. My dad finished 6 sessions of carbo & etoposide chemo about 3 weeks ago. He is still randomly vomiting and very weak with a low hemoglobin. He had a scan Wednesday and met with his doc, Dr. Zhu, with Levines at Atrium Health on Thursday. Tumor in liver and lymph nodes shrunk some but is still there. His doc said he and his team are still so perplexed by my dad’s case and can’t make sense of this. His liver biopsy didn’t reveal the Neuroendocrine markers but the tumor boards have concluded it is, indeed, small cell. I don’t understand but we continue to put our faith in these doctors and do our own research. Dr. Zhu has been consulting with Dr. Andrew Armstrong at Duke and my dad has also been speaking with Dr. Armstrong. They want him to take a 2 month break and have another scan end of November. From there, they may put him on an inhibitor or enroll him in the CHAMP trial at Duke, depending on the scan results. They said that trial may be closed at that point and that it is extremely “brutal” on patients. If it’s so brutal, I guess I don’t understand why it would be an option. It really sucks because it seems like nothing good can come out of doing nothing for 2 months. However, we’re planning to get some weight on him and get his appetite up. Above is a picture of us at my daughter’s birthday party at the of July. He has lost a lot of weight since then but had already lost his hair. My dad is everything I hope to be. I can’t tell him how sick with sadness I am some days because I am trying to stay positive. I’ll never get over this. Anyway, if anyone has any words of hope, personal experience with the CHAMP trial, etc, I’m here for it. Thanks everyone.

[Tall_Allen]

If he can get into the CHAMP trial at all, I think that is his best hope for prolonging life.

"If it’s so brutal, I guess I don’t understand why it would be an option." Good question. With the kind of prostate cancer he has, all the options are "brutal" and the benefit of any of them is unknown. I think you saw that with carboplatin+etoposide. The CHAMP trial would give him carboplatin again, but this time combined with cabazitaxel (Jevtana, another kind of chemo) plus two immunotherapies: ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo). Only he can decide if he is willing to put himself through that in order to prolong his life.

[tango65]

Consider consulting with Dr Beltran at Dana Faber in Boston. She is one of the national experts in this type of cancer

dana-farber.org/find-a-doct...

By the way, I will never enter a trial with the combination of the drugs used in the CHAMP trial.

Search for the "name of the drug and fda access data" and you could get an idea of the adverse events for each of the drugs and then with that info make a decision.

[j-o-h-n]

Handsome Dad, Beautiful Daughter...........apple doesn't fall far from the tree....Know that expression "Get him to the Greek?" (well that' me) And I say "Get him to the Duke" ASAP. Inasmuch as you're a ASSW (sorry it works out that way) you should know that with a push and a shove you can speed up his association with DUKE (in N.C.)..... Anyway, Give your Dad my regards and a little smack to your daughter for her birthday..... Remember God is on your side........

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 09/30/2023 1:53 PM DST

[NickJoy]

I just read Andrew Armstrong will be opening a new trial for small cell very soon. You might want to ask about that trial too.