Chemoemblization

hillby
hillby Member Posts: 31
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi All,

Been a really long time since my last post, but I read every day :) My husband is no longer responding to systematic chemo's, and the radiologist's have reviewed his scans & said he is a good candidate for "chemoemblization". Has anyone here had it? A catheder is inserted thru the groin and fed directly into the liver (where his remaining tumors are) and high doses of chemo are injected.
I would like to hear anything anyone has to say about the procedure. Resposes, side effects, etc....)

Thanks - Hilary

Comments

  • hopefulone
    hopefulone Member Posts: 1,043 Member
    #2
    Hi. No, but my husband has liver mets and I've put it in my back pocket for a list of options, (he's on systemic now 2nd treatment) If you do a web search , there is a lot of information on the procedure. Maybe someone can share their personal experience. Also try posting under liver cancer category also. It's done for both primary and secondary tumors of the liver. Good luck and please let us know how he makes out. God Bless
  • uni522
    uni522 Member Posts: 46
    #3
    My husband has had 3 embolizations. His tumor in his liver was 8 inches when dx'd. It is now 6.75 and is calcified inside. There are some drawbacks to embolization. When we were referred to MD Anderson, they said it hurts somewhat because they do end up "destroying" blood vessels that could possibly help later in the process of resection. Resection was not an option for us, however.
    His biggest complaint, besides pain (and I mean lots of pain) was the catheter(sp). He hated that part. It didn't help that one time a tech kinda' got tangled in it and tugged!! ouch.
    But, seriously, the procedure, I believe gave him extra months on a grim outlook. Also, his CEA dropped from 1100 to about 300 after all three treatments.
    Email me if you have more questions or any other help I can be.

Discussion Boards