Eli
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Hi Michelle,
Welcome to the forum and sorry that you had to find us.
You asked: is it always this hard to get a tissue sample.
You didn’t mentioned the location of the tumor. Is it inside the liver (Intrahepatic CC) or outside (Extrahepatic CC)?
I’m more familiar with ECC – that’s what my wife has.
Extrahepatic CC can grow without forming a mass. In fact, lack of mass is very common. If there is no mass, a positive tissue sample can be hard to obtain.
In my wife’s case, they used brushing biopsy during ERCP. The brushing biopsy came back as “suspicious for adenocarcinoma”. The pathologist saw abnormal cells in the tissue sample, but no actual cancer cells. The doctors could not confirm the CC diagnosis before the surgery. They told us they were about 90% sure it’s CC, so they recommended surgery. The CC diagnosis was confirmed by the full pathology exam done after surgery.
I read that SpyGlass biopsy is more accurate than brushing biopsy. I hope you will be able to get the definitive answer.
Dr. Sonnenday, welcome to the forum! Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to join our extended CC family. Your input will be of great help to all of us, patients and caregivers.
Thank you all for the warm congratulations.
Marina and I are very thankful for your support.
Hugs to all,
EliP.S. I will work with Percy to see what we can do about Wikipedia language. Changing Wikipedia articles isn’t as simple as I thought. Each Wikipedia article has a small community of editors behind it. They are very protective of their work. Understandably so… they put a lot of effort into creating that content.
This new vaccine has been all over the news recently. As usual, media has blown the story out of proportion.
Here’s a more realistic view from a specialized source, Vaccines Industry Newsletter.
‘Universal’ cancer vaccine not miraculous but could bring hope
http://www.fiercevaccines.com/story/universal-cancer-vaccine-not-miraculous-could-bring-hope/2012-04-12Quote:Realistically, it is a story about interim Phase I/II data, so by its very nature it’s unpublished and hasn’t been peer reviewed, and is only from a small group of patients with a single type of cancer. And realistically, it is years off the market. But the results are at the very least interesting, and support the other clinical and preclinical research going ahead with MUC1.Hi Tiffany,
Yes, it’s the same melatonin. If it helps you sleep, I say it’s good! As a mom of two young kids, you need good sleep.
As far as medical mambo-jambo goes, this article is one of the worst I’ve seen. It seems to say that CC cells generate less melatonin than normal cells. They think — and it’s just a theory — that lack of melatonin contributes to CC growth. When they added melatonin to CC cells implanted in mice, melatonin decreased tumor growth. Keep in mind, what works in mice might not work in humans. Don’t increase your melatonin dose like crazy just because of this one cryptic article.
BTW, Sloan-Kettering has a nicely written page about melatonin. It’s all in plain English.
http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/melatoninS-K page contains this warning:
Quote:Because melatonin can alter levels of estrogen, patients with hormone sensitive cancer should consult their physicians before considering melatonin supplementation.Tiffany, talk to Dr.Javle about this warning. I seem to recall that ICC might be hormone sensitive.
P.S. Happy birthday to Madison!!
MyMomMyLife,
It’s good that they are considering her for a transplant. CC patients who undergo transplant have 5 year survival rate of 75% to 85%.
This article does an excellent job of explaining the transplant option:
Curing cancer by replacing livers!
http://www.ksat.com/news/Curing-cancer-by-replacing-livers/-/478452/9222812/-/gsrjbc/-/index.htmlKeeping my fingers and everything else crossed that your mom can qualify.
Hello fellow CC Caretaker,
Welcome to the forum.
It’s true that, in Gemzar/Cisplatin combination therapy, Gemzar is the primary drug. Cisplatin is added to make the treatment more effective. Gemzar is sometimes used on its own in the patients who cannot tolerate the combination therapy. Cisplatin is not used on its own.
In Gemzar/Xeloda combination, the distinction between the two drugs isn’t as clear cut. Both Gemzar and Xeloda can be used on its own.
FOLFOX is the standard chemo for colon cancer. The data on FOLFOX in cholangiocarcinoma is sparse. I linked two studies in this post:
http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/punbb/viewtopic.php?pid=56889#p56889
That’s all I was able to find when I did the search a month ago.
Saint Salt
Welcome to the forum.
I agree with Lainy and Gerry. In and by itself, tumor location in the Ampulla of Vater does not preclude surgery. Whipple is the type of surgery that would be required in this case. All patients who undergo Whipple for extrahepatic CC have their Ampulla removed.
There must be another reason they said no to surgery. Cancer spread or involvement of major arteries. I second Gerry’s suggestion. Get more details from your doctors and seek a second opinion.
Please keep us posted.
Best wishes,
EliJeff!!
About asparagus. You wrote:
“Check out http://physicianswholisten.blogspot.ca/2011/06/will-asparagus-cure-cancer.html for this guy’s argument that asparagus is THE answer. I find it rather convincing as it can’t hurt and tastes good; who can say that about methotrexate?”
Being the diligent researcher that I am, I followed and read your link. The guy does not say that asparagus is THE answer. To some extent, he says the opposite.
Some choice quotes:
Physicians Who Listen wrote:There is no reason to believe that asparagus will cure cancer. It may actually make a few cancers worse.No studies describe the results of feeding asparagus to animals with cancer. Nor are there any published clinical trials on giving asparagus to human cancer patients.
It is certainly widely understood that diets high in vegetables are anticancer. Yet no evidence singles out asparagus in particular, suggesting it has an anticancer effect. There may be some health benefits from eating asparagus because it is a vegetable, but there is little reason to think that asparaguses are special.
While there is little reason to think that asparagus will cure cancer, there is good reason to think that asparagus may make some cancers, in particular acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), worse.
Want to eat a green vegetable that comes close to being THE answer? Eat broccoli! Tons and Tons and Tons of studies found anticancer properties in broccoli. A quote from your link:
Physicians Who Listen wrote:In contrast [to asparagus] there is substantial information on the anticancer effect of other vegetables. For example, a current search of the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine, lists 597 published articles related to the anticancer effect of broccoli.Best wishes,
EliPercy,
I am very sorry to hear the news. My condolences to you and your family.
Please find some comfort in the fact that Helen is not suffering any more. She has gone to a better place without pain.
Hugs,
EliIn Windows 7:
Right-click image file
Select Edit… to open Paint
Click Resize on the toolbar
Enter the desired size in pixels
Save as a new fileIn Windows XP:
You will need image editing software. I like this one:
Picasa might work as well. I don’t have it installed on this computer, so I can’t check.
Mac… no idea. Not a Mac guy.
BTW, you can only use one image in your signature. If you want to share more than one, upload your images to a hosting server, such as Google Docs or Picasa Web Albums. Then put image links in your messages.
