Search Results for '5fu'

Hi,
it will help me if you can tell me which clinical trial or trials you are interested in.
Systemic chemo agent s only or combined with radiation?
In general, 5FU and gemcitabine are the 2 first-line chemo agents used the most.Cisplatin,oxaliplatin,carboplatin(the platin group),epirubicin, irinotecan are the other agents being used too.
For systemic therapy clinical trials that are available,most of them are adding one or two molecularly targeted therapy agent(ie, all those agents the names ended with nib or mab) to the first-line agents to see whether the combo is more effective and/or produce less side effects.
But again, the most important thing is to know exactly what kind of CC first;where is it located and how advance the stage the tumor growth is.

” The role of systemic chemotherapy is evolving in patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma.No single chemotherapy agent or combination regimen consistently leads to tumor shrinkage,forestalls recurrent obstruction following palliative intervention.” from the literature review version 19.1 revised on Jan.2011 : uptodate.com
From the patient’s point of view,I do not think it is our responsibility to choose which clinical trial for our self; for our knowledge is very limited.It should be the responsibility of the oncologist, and other specialists to make the final call base on the diagnosis and findings they made.
But we,as patient or caregiver,should learn as much as possible,before,during and after the treatment;to question the specialists,the oncologists and other health professionals;to keep them on their toes and in return hoping that we have tried our best for our love ones and what we do will be of benefit to others who are also suffer from this disease-it is for sure a long and winding road that required courage and knowledge to navigate .
God bless.

Hi,
It is related to 5FU,a first-line chemo agent to fight CC and colon cancer.It is taken by mouth twice daily (12hr apart)within 30 min. of a meal and with about 200ml or water to flush it down.
Side effects are diarrhea/constipation ,hand and foot syndrome ,mouth sores and fatigue. For most patients the side effects are manageable using medications.(lomotil,imodium/colace and miralax; creams and moisturizers,nystatin and baking soda mouthwash to relieve the corresponding symptoms.)
Xeloda most of the time are used with Gemzar ,but it can be used “off protocol” by itself too.
Have a second opinion if you don’t feel you are satisfied with your current oncologist’s treatment plans for your mother.
I hope the info. helps.

Hi,Gavin,
Thanks for this info. If it holds true in human as now in the lab;this dihydroartemisinin will be 5 times more potent than 5FU.
By the way, the Chinese herbal medicine name is Qing Hao.
The plant that this compound derived from is herba Artemisiae Annuae .
Artemisia capillaris thunb (the young leaves and stems of the plant) is used in herbal formulations to treat gallbladder inflammation,night sweat and tiredness.
God bless.

Hi,
For ductal CC,the treatment of choices included external beam radiation therapy(EBRT);5FU or gemcitabine systemic chemo therapy.Local ablation for intrabiliary therapies included photodynamic therapy(PDT) and brachytherapy or clinical trials.
RFA is mainly for intrahepatic CC treatment. therefore RFA may not be the choice for your husband if his liver is not involved.
Swollen lymph node sometimes is due to infection rather than the CC,so your oncologist may be right on that.
God bless.

Monica,

My husband has been on 5FU since October. He is on a 48 hour continous infusion every other week so he wears a “fanny pack” for 2 days. He has had little side effects. Some weeks a little tired, other weeks a little nausea, but nothing too bad at all.

I think what I have found is that living with cancer causes bouts of depression… some days I can handle anything, other days I want to crawl into a hole and never come out. But, you don’t crawl into the hole and you get through the day. Keep thinking of your family and how much you love each other. Remember how strong you are… after all, look at what you just accomplished!

How old are your kids? Mine are 18 and 14… it’s been a tough couple of years but they are remarkable.

Sharon

Ashley- Being inoperable is why one reason I qualified. They replaced whole biled duct. I have learned and posted on this site how LUCKY I was. I never really knew till I really started to recover. My diagnosos was “you have bile duct cancer, probably 6-8 months to live and you need to be in Dr. William Chapmans care for a liver transplant to survive”. I skipped all the middle nonsense and opinions. I have a great email from a gentleman who’s wife was Dr. Chapmans patient and would love to forward to you.
I had to qualify for trial. My clinical trial included chemo, 24hour chemo pump 5FU and 5 day a week radiation. I then did laprosopic surgery to make sure it had not spread. I then went on transplant list (about 5months after diagnosis) I took oral chemo (Xeloda) while I waited.
You can read my story on FB (Catherine Sims-Dunnagan) I would love to talk to you so you can email me at jrdunnagan@gmail.com or 618-567-3247.
Transplant is still not readly acceptable as a treatment, so don’t rule out until you talk to a transplant doctor, who knows whether it is or isn’t an option.
Lots of prayers-Cathy

Ritchie,

Platelets help your blood to clot. A low platelet count means your body can’t stop itself from bleeding like it normally would.

I was not allowed to have chemo when my platelet count was below 100. When it was below 50 my oncologist said I would be in trouble if I was injured in a car accident. I think it’s when the platelet count is below 20 that doctors become more concerned. When the count is extremely low a person could bleed internally. The lowest mine got was 36. I never had a transfusion but chemo was postponed for that reason. People have told me they felt much better after transfusions.

During radiation and chemo (5FU) I was exhausted to the point of being in bed all day and my husband taking me to radiation in a wheel chair. I was also nauseated all the time. Nothing seemed to work. As it turned out the treatment caused a ulcer on my esophagus and I think that may have been the main reason for the constant nausea. During those weeks I questioned whether or not it was worth it going through treatment. I told my husband that if the treatment did not give me more than two months of feeling good it would not be worth it as it would just be a wash. He kept telling me that I would get better, but I felt so sick I really didn’t believe him.

I feel like I may have been where you are right now. Try to remember that it is possible to come back to feeling good again.

For my second treatment of Gems/Cits the nausea was almost completely controlled with Emend (3 days), Kytril (day of chemo) and dexamethasone 4 days (steriod). I did not want to continue taking the dexamethasone as I kept gaining weight, but my oncologyst said it worked together with the Emend. These medicines really worked great for me. Please ask your doctor if a different or added medicine might help.

My prayers and thoughts are with you.

Kathy

Hi,
The half-life of Gemzar is about 30-90 minutes;that means half the amount of the Gemzar you were given will be out of your body after 30-90 min and so on.
The half-life of Cisplatin is about 24hr;that means about 50% of the Cisplatin is excreted in the urine in the first 24 hours following cisplatin administration.
So I do not think that your current symptoms of edema is related to the side effects of both medications which were given to you about 25days ago.
But if you are still taking dexamethasone or prednisone,then as you may know,edema is one of the side effects.
Lasix and Aldactone are the two diuretics that commonly use for edema in CC.
Even though Gemzar/cisplatin is the first-line regimen for CC;there are still other regimens that are used for systemic treatment of CC such as the 5FU based regimens(5FU +leucovorin iv;Xeloda +mitomycin) and the single or concurrent use of molecularly targeted therapy (Tarceva+Avastin;Xeloda+Avastin)
clinical trials are also good options too.
I hope the info. helps.
God bless.

Kathy-I am sorry I read your post wrong, it was your local doctor that you were a first with. I love my local doctor, he started the journey for me, but I will always be grateful that he was on vacation when test were read. I would have been sent to a local gastronologist who would not have had the expierence to know what he was looking at and would have taken the negative bioposy as truth. One of the many miracles God sent my way the last 2 years.
I did 8 weeks of gemcidabine then 6 weeks of 5FU-24hour a day chemo pump while doing radiation. I took a break for 4weeks and then started on Xeloda (oral chemo) until a liver was found (about 5 months). I started chemo treatment September 2008 and was transplanted May 24, 2009. I did get extremely tired, but went to California before going on transplant list and still managed to be a tourist in San Francisco. The day I had transplant, I went to WalMart but did rest awhile in patio section!! Never lost hair, all my nausea was managed with medication. I hope a transplant is an option for you. Good luck and lots of prayers-Cathy

Hi Sidig,

I am 61 and have a Klastin tumor (located where the left and right bile ducts meet). There is portal vein and heptic artery involvement which makes me inoperable (would not survive surgery). Half my liver is atrophied (shriveled up because of lack of blood supply). Stage IV. I was given 3-14 months to live. I am now at almost 18 months with no cc symptoms (except chemo brain).

My GI doctor would have liked for me to have a liver transplant, but my tumor grew over the protocol size in one month. I think you can find the Mayo protocol under transplant in the menu.

Unlike your mom, I do have/need a stent. I only have one bile duct as the tumor destroyed the right bile duct.

I was treated at Mayo Clinic in Rochester with daily radiation (except weekends) and 5FU chemo 24/7 (pic line) for two months starting Sept. 09. This was a very hard time for me as I was sick the whole time, in bed almost the whole time, and ended up in a wheelchair when I was taken from the House of Hope to radiation (because of weakness). During these two months I was also hospitalized with a blood infection. This time taught me that even though it may not seem like it, you can get better.

I feel the radiation and chemo combo killed the tumor. It has never shrunk, but it appeared to be a different color after my treatment. At that time my oncologist said it might be dying from the inside out.

Chemo was suggested to me again a few months later, but I was feeling so good I turned it down. There are people on this board who have stayed on chemo a few years with evidently good results. I decided on chemo again a few months later hoping to keep this tumor from roaring up again and to slow the appearance of other tumors. It’s really a hard decision and everyone must do whatever they feel is right for them. I am now off chemo and feeling very good.

As far as diet and supplements. I don’t take any supplements as I’ve always hated taking pills (and yet I agreed to have chemo – go figure). My best friend is a dietitian who has non-hodgkins lymphoma. When she was first diagnosed she really researched the “cancer feeds sugar” philosophy and found no scientific evidence for it and told me to eat a balanced diet and limit sugar as everyone should. I probably eat too much sugar. I do have my “probably false internet cure” which is asparagus twice a day. Your suppose to mash 4 Tbls up and put it in tea, but I could not do that for more than a few days. I just eat four long Green Giant stalks right from the can twice a day which is not very tasty. I figure it has to be good for me, even if it isn’t a “cure”. Who knows though, maybe it’s part of my cure. Everyone reacts differently to medicines and supplements.

At my appointments in Dec. my doctors told me I have beaten the odds. They did not expect me to be here now, let alone with no cc symptoms.

It was hard at first as I would go into the pit of despair, but I didn’t stay there long. I found a couple of Bible verses that brought me much peace. I also have a great support system and many people who pray for me. Another thing that has really helped me during the days of question about surgery, a liver transplant, chemo postponed because of low blood counts, etc. is that I’ve put my treatment into God’s hands. I feel that He is my ultimate physician and will direct my treatment plan, stopping or blocking ones I should not have, so I don’t worry too much about that.

I wish the best for you and your mom.

Kathy