SIRT – Y90

Hello Arndt and welcome to our site. SIRT-Y90 has been discussed on out site. Until others have a chance to respond to your questions you might want to use the google search function on top, right. Simply enter SIRT-Y90 and numerous discussions will appear. Let us know if you need help. I am wondering, does your husband also have regular scans and blood tests? And, if so is everything within the normal range? I am glad that you have found us and I am looking forward to many more of your posting.
All my best wishes,
Marion

Thanks, I will definitely try it.

Annie,
I know it’s been a while since your post, but I just came across it while looking up information about ascites. My father had SIR-Spheres in early September and now suddenly has ascites as well. When your father was hospitalized for four days, how did they treat him?

My husband had the spheres treatment in July 2007 after having been diagnosed in December 2006. He has Aetna insurance. One of the criteria for them to pay was that he had to have a prognosis of one year to live or less. The cost is $100,000 dollars. They approved the treatment. Since then there has been no new growth of the tumor which was six inches across. He takes a chemo pill. No IV chemo. He does get Avastin IV every three weeks at Duke University Medical Center. Aetna initially did not want to pay for it. He works for a big company that donates lots of money to medical centers and research. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t have access to this treatment because of the cost and that is unfair. At the present time he is stable . He has no pain. His main problem seems to be constipation. Occasionally his voice gets hoarse but he is on the phone a lot at work. He still goes to work and occasionally travels. He has had one episode of ascites and was hospitalized four days while being treated. That was in September 2007. There have been no further episodes. Good luck to all. Annie

I wish I could confidently tell you who paid for what for the SIRS Spheres treatment (Y90) treatment I had last November. Before I go into the payment, I should mention that my latest scan last week showed that the tumors had not gotten any larger since the Y90 treatment in November 2006.

As for the payments, I am on Medicare as the Primary and have Dean Health Insurance (Wisconsin company) for the secondary insurance. I had the preparation for the procedure in Oct. 2006 at a cost of about $10,000 and the actual treatment in Nov. — the initial cost of over $64,000. There might be other costs, but I didn’t see any after quick scan of my very thick insurance records. Medicare turned down many costs for the October treatment, but I think, after appeals from the doctors, they paid most of the costs. I’m not sure how much Medicare paid and how much Dean Insurance paid. To add to my confusion, the first bill for the November procedure was $60,440 of which Medicare paid $21,731 in Feb. I have not received any bills on the procedure so far, so I assume, maybe Dean Insurance paid the rest, but I don’t know for sure. However by November it seems I should have hears one way or another. Dean has previously paid for chemo and treatments which Medicare has turned down.

Related also is that in October of each year I have the option to choose a different secondary insurance. I was considering changing from Dean Insurance, which requires referrals, to a Wis. Physicians Service Insurance which was formerly Blue Cross. This insurance did not require a referral. Fortunately I did not switch carriers and later was told WPS only covered textra costs of the treatments/chemos approved by Medicare.

This whole post is to indicate that I think the Dean Insurance did cover costs not covered by Medicare for the Y-90 treatment — but it is all very confusing as you have found out. Even my oncologist has trouble interpreting Medicare for his mother.

Best of luck with your insurance, and more importantly with your father’s treatment for CC.

Also, be sure to have the Dr’s who did the treatment write letters to your insurance company letting them know how important the treatment was and that it is working successfully.

Stacie