All Topics → Forum: Stage IV and Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY → Topic: liver mets survivors (HELP)
Posted on: Oct 25, 2007 11:02 AM, edited Oct 25, 2007 11:28 AM by Toto
Toto wrote:
I finished AC + Taxol chemo.on January 2007,
Just diagnosed with liver metastases this October 2007,
(5 lessions in liver)
now I started new cocktail (Avastin,Gemzar,Xeloda)
Any good stories from ladies with liver mets ?
((((HUGS)))) to all.
T H A N K S
Toto
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Oct 25, 2007 10:14 PM b445 wrote:
Was dx with liver mets in April treamtment is Abraxane and Avastin and so far they results are good. Next set of scans is near Thanksgiving
Best wishes
Oct 25, 2007 10:43 PM jonimb wrote:
Hi Toto,
I had liver mets from the start, they gave me FEC x 6. Only started shrinking them at the end. I am ER/PR positive, HER2 negative, so now I'm on Tamoxifen. Had scans at the end of Aug indicating my liver mets as NED.
There are lots of different toxic coolaids they can give us to help combat this. Best wishes to you, and Big Hugs.
Joni
Oct 26, 2007 07:14 AM joeengland wrote:
My wife was diagnosed with bc and liver mets 6 months ago, her count was 8000 whatever that means. She was given taxotere 6 x weekly then triple dose 3 weekly. Her count is now 169 her onc is delighted she is currently on FEC 4 x 3 weekly doses ,hoping to go on to hormonal drugs thereafter. We've gone from a life expectancy of 2 months to
possibly 10 years and beyond. I can't stop her talking or spending.
Life is good.
Oct 26, 2007 01:11 PM CalGal wrote:
Toto -
My liver mets have been gone almost 16 months and counting!!!
As a triple negative, no hormone options for me.
I was dx'd with recurr bc and liver mets in 12/05 (less than 1 year after finishing 38x rad'tn). After 4 dose dense AC, the breast tumor was gone and the 4 liver mets had shrunk. I then did 2 more AC.
I had to fight to get RFA (radio frequency ablation) of my liver mets. It was NOT offered and when I asked my (now former) HMO for it, I was denied three times. It took going to a major cancer center (as a cash pay) for a special liver CT scan - and being deemed eligible for RFA - to cause my HMO to relent.
By the time, I had RFA, the 4 liver mets had gone to 2 ... and yes, they were smaller (again)!
RFA is a great procedure - minimally invasive and minimal recovery!
Although NED, I then did Taxotere & Carboplatin.
Unfortunately, in 7/07, I was dx'd with a lung met ... but my liver is still clear! I'm on a clinical trial (PARP Inhibitor for those BRCA positive and Stage III or IV) and just this week, found that my 2 cm tumor is reduced to 1.5 cm!
I would push for RFA!
CalGal
Oct 26, 2007 05:23 PM jjb1984 wrote:
Hi Toto
I was dx 3/06 with 3 small liver mets. Did A/C, then Gemzar and Navelbine. Had Herceptin for 8 months, Aug 06 thru March 07; stopped due to a low muga. My scans were clear beginning in Sept 06 and have been ever since; I just had one in early October. So far so good and I'm only on Tamoxifen. There are days I feel like my force field is down because I'm not on Herceptin, but I can always go back on it. There's lots of options out there for us!!
((hugs))
Julie
Oct 27, 2007 05:39 PM Denny123 wrote:
Hi,
By the time I was dx'd with bi-lat BC, it had already gone to my liver, but that wasn't confirmed until a year later. By then I had a 9cm (tennis ball sized) tumor in my liver, plus numerous 2cm tumors throughout. My liver looked like Swiss cheese.
I went on Gemzar and Herceptin, and after 9 months, or 14 treatments, my liver went into remission and I have now been in remission for over 3 years.
I am now on Herceptin only and will be on it for life.
I think your chemo combo will knock those nasties out for good!
You will be in my prayers!
Denise
Nov 20, 2007 04:26 PM, edited May 2, 2008 08:09 PM by TenderIsOurMight
Toto, I just wish to give a literature citation which may offer further encouragement to the dear words above. In it, it lists chemotherapies active against liver cancer, and discusses arterial liver chemoinfusion as well as cytokines (immune modulators) and hormones. I know your marker is ER+, and understand that many times, but not always, a metastasis carries the same markers. It is particularly important, if possible to retest the marker status by biopsy, to see if it is the same, and to test for HER status, as something like 20% of recurrences will be HER+ even though initial tumor was HER-. This is quite phenomenal, imho, and allows tumor antibody directed Herceptin treatment.
Here is the title: "Multiple Liver Metastases of Breast Cancer: Report of a Case Successfully Treated with Hormone-Cytokine-Chemotherapy"
Citation:jjco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/co...
Quote from article: "In recent years, therapeutic strategies after relapse of breast cancer have gradually changed. Since 1982, endocrine chemotherapy has been systematically used. In chemotherapy for recurrent breast cancer, the efficacy of adriamycin (ADM), methotrexate (MTX), 5-fluorouracil (5FU), cyclophosphamide (CPM), vincristine (VCR) and mitomycin C (MMC) has been demonstrated. Antitumor cytokines such as TNF-[alpha] and IFN-[alpha] have also been used in clinical practice. We previously reported that TNF-[alpha] and IFN-[alpha] exhibited synergistic antitumor effects on human-derived malignant tumor in vitro and in vivo. By analyzing the cellular cycle, we clarified that the mechanism involved S-phase accumulation and S to G2/M block (12-14). Furthermore, we performed combination cytokine-chemotherapy with TNF-[alpha], IFN-[alpha] and anticancer agents including 5-FU by applying actions that are synchronous with the S phase (15). In our patient, the possibility that inhibitory effects on the tumor were enhanced by combining endocrine chemotherapy with cytokines cannot be denied".
This was a long time ago for this patient (1987) and yet they were successful in treating her liver. Since then, even more progress has been made. So, you are right to push now, and explore for your best possible care, and just so you know we'll be right there, pushing with and alongside of you...
All the best to you Toto,
Tender