My last option : Radioembolization with Yttrium90
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My husband is having radio embolization at the end of the month. He found out he had intrahepatic stage 4 cancer last Sept. Since then he has had chemo that really make him sick. The chemo didn’t shrink any of his 2 tumors, but it has reduced his kidney functions.
So he was taken off chemo and given chemo embolization along with the test to see if he can have radio embolization. He passed the test (leakage to the lungs) and will have the procedure done.
Since my husband isn’t a candidate for surgery, I was really glad he was able to have this done. From what I have read radio embolization has a really good chance of extending life.
We are giving it a try since there are very few other options out there.
Hi Maria,
That’s wonderful news about your tumors! I hope John’s will show such remarkable shrinkage, too. He’s running out of options, so it gives me much hope knowing that others have had such good results. Thanks so much for sharing this with me. Hugs, PeggyP
Peggy, I´ve had 5 chemoembolizations. The first ones did hurt a day or two afterwards, but the last one didn´t feel anything.
Anyway, they had a GREAT effect on my tumors. The big one showed no life in last scan (and has gone from 10×8 cm to 2×5 cm), only two small ones did have any circulation at all (15 small ones once upon a time)
/MariaHi Fatema,
I know that John asked the doctor if the procedure for Y90 could be repeated and he said yes. Maybe, they think it will be less strain on your mom to go ahead and do both lobes at the same time.
John also asked about the chemo procedure being repeated and they told him that as long as there was enough good liver left they could repeat it, too.
I think they are concerned because John has so many tumors and they have been growing that he will have liver failure unless they can get them to shrink. I hope, too, that both your mom and John have successful procedures.Hi Byron,
I had read where you were waiting for the Y90 treatment. I think I recall that you were going to have the chemoembolization first. Have you had the procedure yet? If so, what side effects did you have? They told John that he would feel like he had a bad case of flu and would throw up. I hope things are going well with you otherwise. Sending hugs, PeggyP
Dear PeggyP,
I’m really appreciating your kind words, wish your husband will have the best treatment, as you know all of us here are trying to fight that terrible illness with any procedure (even if not approved yet) but with the least complications.
Although i read encouraging information about Y90 but i’m still so worried (espeicially from affection of the remaining normal liver tissue), after the test run the doctor showed me the images (by angio), they were really terrible so i asked him “Do you think she will have a sufficient remaining liver tissue??”, which annoyed me alot that he will mostly inject both lobes in the same session !!!
Wish your husband and my mom speed recovery.John, I am patiently waiting for a chance to try the Y90 radioembolization. I have ready quite a bit about it, including some recorded trials at different hospitals. The procedure, and they tell you this, does not cure the disesase, but is quite effective at knocking back and reducing the tumors to buy time. Some have had very very good results with it.
Peggy, you are so very right. A good attitude amd lots of HOPE can take one a long way. Wishing for John to have success with his treatment next Thursday!!! Be strong.
Dear Fatema.
I am glad to hear that your mom is stable. I know how concerned you have been about her. I will keep her in my prayers, too, and I hope that she will be able to have the Y90 treatment. Sending well wishes for your mom and lots of hugs, PeggyP
Hi Lud,
My husband was diagnosed with Stage IV ICC in August ’08 after having a resection. They removed over 70 percent of his liver, his right kidney, gallbladder, part of colon and some of his stomach cavity. In March ’09 he presented with multiple tumors in his liver and has been on different chemo cocktails since then. Two and a half weeks ago, we went to UVA where they did a trial run to see if he would be a candidate for the Y90 theraspheres. Unfortunately, there was too much leakage into his stomach cavity so he was unable to have the treatment. From everything that we were told and read, it appeared that this would be a good procedure to try. He is scheduled to have a similar procedure next Thursday that uses chemo instead of the radiation beads. You are still young, so my advice to you would be to go for whatever procedures are available to you. Try to keep a positive attitude as I believe that makes a big difference in your response. John continues to fight each day and I am amazed at all the things he gets accomplished. I hope everything will go well for you and I will keep you in my prayers. PeggyP
Hi Lud,
My mom also diagnosed as metastatic (bone) intrahepatic CC (large mass forming involving two segments and multiple satellites in all liver segments) 3 and half months ago, she was on GEMOX (gemcitabine+oxaliplatin) plus Erbitux (cetuximab) for 3 cycles, her CAT scan showed “Stable disease” but her treating physician was not “satisfied” with that result so he consulted an interventional radiologist who consulted i think others in France (where there was a conference about 10 days ago about Y90), they said we could proceed for that so she is off chemotherapy now and had the pre injection evaluation, they put coils in arteries supplying stomach (to prevent embolisation of Y90) and tested lung uptake which was 16% (they injected a radioactive substance and then measured its lung uptake which shouldn’t exceed 20%)As regard its efficacy, as i understood cholangiocarcinoma is the third recommendation for Y90 (after HCC and colorectal metastasis), efficacy in it is depending on tumor vascularity, the more the vascularity the better the response due to more drug delivery to the tumor. but most cholangio are not hypervascular.
I wish that i added something to you but regarding survival i don’t believe in it eve i don’t read it in any paper i believe that every one has its time and no one could know it except GOD.
Wish you and my mom speed recovery.
Dear LUD, welcome to our extraordinary family! First I want to say that I think you are our first CC patient from France, at least from what my feeble mind recalls.
We always try to stay realistically optimistic and we NEVER guess at life expectancy as we were not born with expiration dates stamped on the bottom of our feet. No one can predict how long anyone has. We have had Stage IV patients with no treatment that have survived longer than expected. Everyone is different just like different solutions work for different people. My best suggestion to you is to get a 2nd opinion. Not sure I would want to be working with a pessimistic doctor! I can’t help you on the radioem as Teddy did not have that. You also have age on your side! I know others will come to your post and reply about the radioem. Please keep us posted as we truly care.At the beginning of March, i will (if no contraindications are found) undergo a radioembolization of my several intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas, thanks to the injection of Yttrium 90 SIRspheres.
I’d like to have some feedback, if people here have benefited from this treatment.But, Let me present briefly my history : I’m 39, French, living in Paris, and i have experienced a bunch of diseases these past 17 years ;
-ulcerative colitis since 1995 : it ended in a total colectomy in 2008 (no pouch but an ileoanal anastomosis)
-Graves’ hyperthyroidism disease between 2004 and 2007 (chloraminophen seems to have cured this one)
-Sclerosing cholangitis diagnosed in 2009 (‘treated’ with ursolvan)
-alopecia aerata between 2007 and 2010
-cholangiocarcinoma (small : 0,5cm) in the lower main bile duct in 2010 : i had a pancreaticoduodenectomy to remove it.
-and last but not least, several intrahepatic CC were found in october 2011, during a checkup for a future liver transplant. I was then not eligible for liver transplant any more (though it seems that in the USA, there are cases of people with CC getting transplants?)I had 2 months of chemotherapy in december and january (gemcitabine+oxaliplatine), but the last scanner/MRI showed that it was not efficient as no tumor has shrinked : 2 are stable (5cm and 2 cm) and 2 have slightly growed (both around 2cm).
Now, I have been proposed to try this readioembolization.
But, it does not seem very efficient, according to what i have read.
SO, i am wondering if someone on this forum has had this treatment and if it is really worth or just another waste of time.I am also wondering what could be my life expectancy, no doctor has yet given me any estimation. And Mine is quite pessimistic, as i give myself something between 6 and 24 months.
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