reoccurence pelvic region

carmen07

Hi everyone,
My husband Stage 4, Colon resection 10/03, Liver resection 6/04 had reoccurence in the left pelvic region. His tumor can be resected and his surgeon has recommended going in now to remove the mass. He had chemo before and now is off.
The surgeon explained to us that during the operation he may have radiation (brachytherapy) or possible radiation after surgery.
We have gone for a second opinion and they recommend having radiation before surgery.
We are both torn right now on which step to take.
He did not have cancer of the rectum and it is very rare to have a reoccurence in the pelvis region. He never had radiaiton treatment. This was all new to us and not expected when we heard the words radation. Any imput on Advantage of pre-op radiation versus bracytherapy or post-op radiaition would be greatly appreciated.

KathiM

Hello.
Well, I'm sort of a poster gal for pre-surgical radiation, chemo. I had a 2" tumor on my rectum, squamous cell carcinoma. No one really knew quite what to do, so they did 2 courses of chemo and 25 days of radiation pre-op to reduce the size and improve my chances.
When I had my flex sigmoidoscopy with the surgeon, 2 months later, he said...
"Where WAS this tumor????" It had disappeared completely, all that was left was little red stars from the radiation.
Because he could not Guarantee that there weren't some little guys still sleeping in the scar tissue, I went ahead with the surgery...but changed from 37% survival to 95% survival overall.

I didn't have a typical cancer, so I may not be the one to completely go on, and I did have to wait awhile to have surgery (4 months from last rad) to completely heal the area, but I'm using a brand new rectum and loving it!!!

Hope this helps!
Kathi

mwomack

My husband who was Stage IIIC sigmoid colon(10/04) is undergoing 7 weeks of pelvic radiation for a recurrence in the presacral space for which he had surgery on 2/15. He did not get a 2nd opinion, but they did surgery and removed the mass but did not get clear margins. However, the radiation onc. said he would need radiation whether they got clear margins or not because it was a recurrence.

Never was radiation before surgery suggested by the surgeon or his onc. However, I would have liked for him to investigate the radiation during surgery.

MA

taraHK

Hi. I certainly don't know the answer to your question about pre-op radiation versus bracytherapy versus post-op radiation. Was either doctor able to give you some research/evidence to back up their suggestion? But of course each case is a little different....My own bias is towards a team which does a lot of surgery/treatment. I think it is great that everyone agrees the tumour can be resected. Best wishes.

libris

my relative with a recurrence of rectal cancer in the pelvic area had both pre-surgery radiation w/5FU and radiation during surgery, followed by several months of chemo. He had never had any adjuvent therapy with his original cancer, just surgery. He's now doing fine.
Best of luck!