At my mum's 6 month check she was told the cancer was back. It's on the peritoneum, localised, and luckily hasn't spread to any other organs. So there's a lot of good news there, but from what I've read, cancer on the peritoneum is a stubborn / persistent cancer to fight. I wonder if anyone out there has had experience of this? We haven't yet seen the oncologist - the results were given over the phone with an initial chat about the drugs they will probably use to fight it (carbo/toxol) but I've also read about a couple of other things such a 'intra-peritoneal' chemo (where they actually go in and 'wash' the organs in the peritoneum with a chemo drug so it's direct to the cancerous area, without the usual barriers), hyperthermia (where the said drug is heated as it is administered which apparently increases it's effectiveness), and 'stripping' of the peritoneum (removal of the cancerous area). I might have misunderstood any (or all!) of the above, but it sounds like these more extreme methods seem to have had quite positive results in comparison to standard chemo.
If anyone can shed some light on what we're dealing with, and what we can expect, or perhaps if anyone knows any more about the above procedures it would be most interesting...
Dear Angela , I have primary peritoneal cancer , I had my extensive debulking in may , major surgery , ppc was even found on my daphramg so this had to be scraped . I was cut from breast bone to pelvis , I am just 50 . Please do not believe all you read on ppc .. I wake every day with hope , that and my family keep me going , yes it's stubborn , yes it's persistent but we all have to have hope . Ime just about to have chemo number 5 , carbo / taxol .. My mid way scan was good and showed good results .I know of he chemo you are on about when they wash the organs out whilst doing the surgery , but others I know with ppc have not had this and the only time I've heard of it is in America , but I could be wrong. Please contact me if I can help in any way , peritoneal is a rare cancer .. All the best Elaine
Thanks for the response. Yes, I certainly believe there is much hope! And everyday they are coming up with more treatments it seems too. The fact that your scan shows good results shows that it IS working, so that's great news, and reassuring to me so thank you. I don't believe everything I read - hence the post to see if anyone out there could affirm anything that I'd come across. When I initially stumbled across the mentioned procedures it was indeed US based - and I found one article about a place in Belgium that I think also specialises in it (in case it's of interest: surgery.ugent.be/pages/hipe... ). Anyway, we shall see what the oncologist advises next week...
My mum had secondary reoccurrence on her peritoneum in may 13 after 6 mths remission .her oncologist tried weekly taxol .my mum managed 12 out of the 18 sessions only and found it very tough .not all people find it tough though some tolerate weekly taxol very well .my mum had a few other health problems too .my mums tumour size was 4.5cms \ 1.5 cms .when you talk of washing the tumour with chemo I Think from what I read that is mainly done in USA and not here in Britain ( although I do think it sounds a great idea ) .hope this helps a bit .let us know how your mum is doing .thinking of you and your mum .
Recurrence in the peritoneum is quite common, I believe. I am a retired GP with primary peritoneal cancer, a variant of ovarian cancer. It is good that it is localised. I would think that standard chemo is the best answer, but discuss it all with the oncologist.
Love to you and your mum.
Eileen xx
Thanks so much for the responses. I asked at the oncologist appointment about these other procedures that I'd read about, and it doesn't seem like something to pursue. The 'stripping' can actually be done in the UK but it's only for a certain kind of cancer (a mucinous one - is that the right word?). As for the intraperitoneal chemo and hyperthermia, it's still apparently in the trial phase and has no 'proven' benefit... it's also rather invasive and carries it's own risks. I might look into it a little more but we're taking our oncologists advice of course - weekly taxol starting this week. I'll post on progress...
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