Gallbladder cancer stage IV with liver metastasis

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PennyA
PennyA Member Posts: 1
in Rare and Other Cancers #1

My mom, who is 66, was diagnosed with stage IV GBC. Two oncologists stated that an operation is not feasible at this time. She is on Gemzar and Cisplatin (2 weeks on and 1 week off). A few questions for the board... At what point during treatment was a follow up CT scan done? How long did treatment last? Was surgery ever an option post treatment? What experience have you had with facilities in the NY tri-state area? Thank you.

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  • Rich24uk
    Rich24uk Member Posts: 17
    #2
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    Hi Penny

    Hi Penny, apologies, I've only just seen this comment. The GBC threads are pretty quiet.

    For my mum, the follow up CT scans were every 3 months during teatment (she had 6 months of treatment so 2 scans in total). Surgery has not been offered due to potential spread outside of the gallbladder. Here in the UK, surgery tends to only be offered when they are reasonably certain that there is no spread, I think in other countries, surgery is offered more freely.

    Mum is now almost 2 years of clear scans since her chemo and doing really well, next one is in January so we will all be getting nervous after Christmas.

  • CLTdoglover
    CLTdoglover Member Posts: 16
    #3
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    Gallbladder cancer (GBC) Genetic testing

    I am copying this to all GBC boards:

    Have her do genetic testing to see if she has HER2 expression (as part of a full genetic analysis), which is common in breast cancer and recently discovered in GBC.  If she has it, they have 3 decent chemos to extend  or save her life. 

    My 47 year old friend was diagnosed with Stage IV in Dec 2014 and  told she was inoperable with  4-6 months to live.  She went through Perthera to perform genetic testing (who then sends the tissue to Caris for protein pathways and Foundation for genomic profiling) which discovered the HER2 amplification in her tumors.  She went on a series of regular chemos plus the HER2 drugs which shrunk or killed all of her tumors and on 12/2/2015 Sloan Kettering surgically removed her cancer and she is now NED.  This is a breakthrough event for this terrible disease and I cannot emphasize the importance of doing genetic testing on this cancer!  Do not delay as this cancer is aggressive.  

    I cannot speak to whether Perthera is the best or not for genetic testing but that is who her oncologist recommended and it worked for her.  

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