Peritoneal Cancer in Men

Hello everyone. I am new here and stumbled across this page whilst surfing the net for info on PC in men. I have been diagnosed with PC and being male it is extremely hard to find other men to talk to about this horrible disease. I have, hopefully, just finished chemo but still have a small cell mass in my abdomen and am awaiting an operation to see if the mass is just dead cells or not. If the tumour is not dead cells then I am going to have to get chemo infused straight into my abdominal cavity. Has anyone on here had any experience of that? I was really sick by the end of my chemo cycles so my oncologist does not want me to have anymore systemic chemo at the moment.

Thank you, Nate.

Comments

  • westie66
    westie66 Member Posts: 642
    HIPEC Procedure
    Hi: I'm not a man but do have secondary peritoneal cancer (from gallbladder cancer). Anyways, there have been several discussions on this procedure, called HIPEC (don't know what it stands for exactly but it is an intra-peritoneal heated chemotherapy technique whereby heated chemicals (likely the same ones or similar ones you had during regular IV chemotherapy)are injected into your abdominal cavity over several treatments. It is usually done after a debulking/destripping surgery. You can look at information on this treatment by typing it into your google (or whatever) browser. Dr Sugarbaker now at Washington Hospital developed it in Europe. There are some threads on this on this discussion board and also on the ovarian cancer and colon cancer discussion boards.
    Good luck.
    Cheryl
  • westie66
    westie66 Member Posts: 642
    Peritoneal Cancer in Men
    Hi Nate: Glad you found your way to our discussion board. I am not a man, sorry, but there are several men on this discussion board with the disease. You don't say whether your cancer is primary peritoneal cancer or secondary peritoneal cancer (i.e. metatasis from somewhere else like the colon or appendix or ...). Also, you had regular IV chemo - can I ask what the composition of the chemicals used was (e.g. oxaliplatin? irenotecan? 5FU? etc.) - must have been a good combo if it removed/reduced the cancerous nodules on the peritoneum. Also, did you have debulking or destripping (removal of the cancerous nodules on the peritoneum) prior to chemo? We've been discussion these treatments since we established this discussion board a few months ago. See my info on the HIPEC procedure above.
    Thanks, Nate.
    Cheryl
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    I had chemo directly into my abdominal cavity
    I had mucinous adenocarcinoma of the appendix which had spread throughout the peritoneum. I had a belly port placed, and received IP chemo 3 days every other week (infusions were 2-4 hours each day.) I had FUDR.

    It sounds horrible, but for most people, it is just uncomfortable - a bloated feeling. I was a rare one in that it caused a chemical peritonitis, and thus extreme pain. My chemo nurses at Memorial Sloan Kettering had never seen this reaction in anyone before, and they do lots of IP chemo there. Thus, they kept me on a dilaudid drip during the treatments. The 3 IP chemo beds on the 4th floor of the clinic (you have to lie down) were always full when I was there. I don't know about all the other floors, but I know other chemo suites had the beds as well, as at one point they were going to send me to a different floor.

    Some people get heated IP chemo during surgery: HIPEC. Yes, there are men who have dealt with this. The question is where did your cancer originate? Also, did you have PMP (pseudomyxoma peritonei)?

    Alice
  • ptharp
    ptharp Member Posts: 190
    Nate: I was wondering how you

    Nate: I was wondering how you are doing with your fight against cancer?

  • PatsieD
    PatsieD Member Posts: 99
    You

    Hi Nate...

    We have had men post on this board because, although it is a rarer occurance, men do get PPC too and often that is overlooked. It's a lonely experience at the best of times and it's harder for those who are isolated which is why we wanted PPC distinct from Ovarian cancer. To answer your question, I wasn't offered intra abdominal chemo. I'm not sure why I wasn't but from what I understand, intra abdominal chemo is normally given during surgery. In a woman's case, the surgery is called debulking where the uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries and omentum are taken away to reduce the disease. I was wondering whether you would have to have some kind of surgery too? Take good care ...

  • Best Friend
    Best Friend Member Posts: 222
    hi

    My mom has PPC. She is coming up on her second year in April. She went 9 months without treatment which is actually wonderful. Just because PPC is treated the same as ovarian doesn't mean a man can't have ppc. My moms doc said there were no signs of ovarian cancer but it somehow originated there. When she goes to chemo they list her as ovarian. Can't remember but i think the the tissue is epethiliall and the cells are mulerian. So many darn terms. Either way, yes you are in the right spot. Mom had debulking surgery. Alot of the big research hospitals do the HIPEC. My mother had chemo and than debulking which removed the rest of her cancer,than more chemo. She's in treatment again since November. It's discouraging. The one cancer you can get and its rare and never really goes into that long of a remission if you can achieve remission at all. I guess she goes through good periods. Right now she is having depression. She just went through 6 months of chemo. It's overwhelming. Hopefully u have a good support system at home. If not, you can write on here and atleast get out ur frustrations or ask questions. Welcome.

  • Alicia_BO
    Alicia_BO Member Posts: 1
    Peritoneal Carcinomatosis

    Hi,

    My husband was very recently diagnosed with peritoneal carcinomatosis as a result of cholangiocarcinoma mestasis. He underwent three rounds of chemo (with cisplatin and gemcitabine) and after doing body scans, we were told that the chemo took care of the cancer that was found in a cyst that was removed from his bile duct. My husband started having abdominal pains shortly thereafter and after a month they decided to test some fluid that was accumulating in his stomach. They found cancer. They want to do chemotherapy using capecitabine oxaliplatin and flofox(5FU oxaliplatin) to see if they would help him. Can anyone here shed some light as to what to expect from the upcoming chemo treatments?

  • Jim Bruce
    Jim Bruce Member Posts: 1
    PC

    Hi Nate. I am a 52 yr old male with pain underneath my right rib cage, feels like skin ripping apart. Have had upper GI, CT and all looks okay. Was reading about PC online. What were your symptoms? How did they discover it? How are you doing?

    jim1961

  • seatown
    seatown Member Posts: 261 Member
    Jim Bruce said:

    PC

    Hi Nate. I am a 52 yr old male with pain underneath my right rib cage, feels like skin ripping apart. Have had upper GI, CT and all looks okay. Was reading about PC online. What were your symptoms? How did they discover it? How are you doing?

    jim1961

    PPC symptoms

    To Jim Bruce--I'm obviously not male, but my primary peritoneal cancer was diagnosed years after a total hysterectomy. For me, as I understand is the case with most PPC patients, the symptoms were vague: pain in different parts of the abdomen. The first move towards accurate diagnosis, after several false starts, was a CT scan. My PCP called while I was driving home from the CT scan & said, "Could be cancer; we're not sure." From that experience I deduce that if your CT scan was clear you might not have to worry. I'm certainly no expert, but I would say that if your symptoms are in the upper abdomen, that's not consistent with what I've learned are PPC symptoms.

    Also, for women with PPC, a blood test for the cancer antigen 125 is a benchmark measure. I understand that at least for PPC recurrence, rising CA125 levels precede clinical symptoms. Not sure if this same principle applies for men. But most female PPC patients, and ovarian cancer patients too, keep a close watch on their CA125 results.

    The long trip to my PPC diagnosis has taught me one thing, though: keep after the docs until you get your symptoms explained & diagnosed. 

    More on my story at www.CaringBridge.org/visit/CaroleSeaton

  • Blue24
    Blue24 Member Posts: 1
    edited November 2016 #11
    Hi Alicia 

    Hi Alicia 

    I think your husband and my husband has the same case. They recently removed  fluids building up in his stomach and was diagnosed with peritoneal disease . He is scheduled to have a port a cath to start his chemo. Like you i am looking for some answers too being this is a rare case in men. If you find any more information please share them to me. Thank you. Hope everything goes well with your husbands treatment . 

  • LorettaMarshall
    LorettaMarshall Member Posts: 662 Member
    edited November 2016 #12
    Blue24 said:

    Hi Alicia 

    Hi Alicia 

    I think your husband and my husband has the same case. They recently removed  fluids building up in his stomach and was diagnosed with peritoneal disease . He is scheduled to have a port a cath to start his chemo. Like you i am looking for some answers too being this is a rare case in men. If you find any more information please share them to me. Thank you. Hope everything goes well with your husbands treatment . 

    Blue24-Have answered U here~http://csn.cancer.org/node/306613

    Hello “Blue24”

                Although you have directed your question to Alicia, if you click on the blue box on the left hand side of her post, you will see that she has only posted once.  “About Alicia_BO - Joined on Sunday, March 24 2013 - Last online - Thursday, April 04 2013”.  Sometimes people come on only once and never return.  However, they need to realize that most of us on here may not be able to answer them in a 24-hour period because many of us are fighting the same battles.  The day we read the post may not be the day that we are feeling our best.  I see she checked back in for the last time on April 4th of 2013.  So it may be that you can try to send her a private message via the e-mail system here on CSN, but I have a feeling you will not receive an answer.  It’s always best to read some of the more current postings regarding the questions you have.  Or at least check the date on the post.  So in this case Alicia has not posted anything on here in 3 yrs. And 7 months.  And don’t worry, you’re not the first person that didn’t realize that they should check the date that person last posted anything. 

     Based on your questions to “Alicia”, may I assume that your husband has been diagnosed with Peritoneal Carcinomatosis?  So based on that assumption I have compiled a lot of “homework assignments” for you that relate to Peritoneal Cancer and Peritoneal Carcinomatosis.  So please go here to see my answer to you.

     It is difficult to find “plentiful info” on this cancer, because it is so rare, and is usually related with other types of cancers.  And more so, is usually found in many more women than men.  May God give you the grace to endure and persevere in the coming days.  Hope this info helps.

    Please Go here:  http://csn.cancer.org/node/306613

     Loretta Marshall

     Peritoneal Carcinomatosis/Ovarian Cancer Stage IV