Gemcis Results/Proton Beam trial at MD Anderson

Hi Kris,

The doctor said I won’t qualify for a resection until my staging drops down from IV to III. I hope this will happen soon!! But I know I have a long fight ahead of me.

As for the cyberknife – I haven’t even looked at the information yet – I just figured I wasn’t there yet and didn’t want to overload myself with information. There is just so much to know.

If you are interested – I found the trial on the clinical trials website – search with Cholangiocarcinoma AND Proton.

My radiation oncologist explained that it is only a phase 1 trial – so it is basically a theory one of the doctor’s is trying to show has merit. My doctor advised me that the drug they are using in combination with the Proton Beam Therapy theoritecally makes sense, and that she would never be able to give me radiation dosage as high with the standard method of radiation. The biggest advantage of proton beam is that the beam’s width and depth can be controlled – so less harm to surrounding tissue and organ’s.

Dana Farber in Massachusett’s is currently doing a phase II trial on proton beam therapy, but they aren’t using the drug Bevacizumab. Bevacizumab blocks the growth of blood cells in tumours.

I believe Sloan-Kettering in NYC also uses proton beam therapy for our cancer.

Anyhow, I have nothing to lose. I might as well hit it hard while I still have the strength and energy!

Thank you for the support,
Mel