RFA for liver mets?

hopefulone

Hi All . Thanks for your kind words and prayers. Although we are still getting over the shock that liver mets have returned so quickly, we remain hopeful as the surgeon who did the resection says we still have good options he believes available to us, and so for that I am thankful. We met with him Thursday and have discussed the possibility of a second resection or rfa. We have a consult set up for end of the month(we're trying to get in earlier) with a dr/radiologist for rfa. The surgeon is not opposed to another resection at this time , however, he also feels that we should consider rfa if it is a possibility so we can consider all the options. If rfa is not an option he believes he can do a second resection now as the mets are small enough and all in close proximity in rt lobe. He also says if we chose that option, it would not necessarily close doors to having another resection in the future should they reoccur again in close proximity. My husband really does not want to go through another resection if rfa can produce the same result. I know also that there are some on here who've had rfa for liver mets which has produced good results. If you have had this procedure done I'd appreciate your sharing your outcome with us. Thanks again for the support and your good thoughts and prayers. God Bless, Diane

sladich

Liver RFA
Diane,

I also had a liver resection (11/05) only to have the cancer return a year later. The radiologist I chose, suggested a chemoembolization first, then RFA, then another chemoembolization. The chemoembolization is a very high dose (very thick) chemo. They go up your groin (like they do for a heart cath) and insert the chemo. Since it is very thick it sticks to one side of your liver. This is a same day procedure. A month later, I had the RFA done (same day procedure). A month later, I had the chemoembolization done on my other side of the liver. The radiologist wanted to kill any cancer cells that were not visable. At the time, I had one tumor. These procedures were done beginning in November 2006. My liver has been clean since. The recovery was much better than a liver resection. However, the chemoembolization makes you pretty sick for a few days (like having the flu). The liver RFA was a piece of cake. I would definitely look into the liver RFA and you might want to ask about getting the chemoembolization too. Accordning to what I've read, a second liver resection can be very successful too. I would be more than happy to answer any other questions. Best of luck in whatever you decide to do.

Debbie