Radiation Treatments - Salivary Glands - IMRT - Ethyrol - Amophostine

macdru123

Hi, My brother has just finished his first week of 7 weeks of radiation and chemo. He has SCC with unknown primary which has metasized to his lymph nodes. The pet showed some very small hot spots but the camera in his throat, subsequent biopsies and the CAT showed nothing. He was not offered amophostine, but after researching it on this site and others we had the Dr. prescribe it against his wishes. He said he saw no correlation with the drugs and the results and that the side effects were not worth it. The second day of radiation he received chemo and the third day about 4 hours after his shot of amophostine, he passed out cold, so they immediately discontinued the amophostine and don't want him to go back on it, but it is up for discussion. I was wondering if there was anyone out there who could help us make an educated decision. Obviously, he won't go back on the drug daily, but perhaps a few times a week the weeks without chemo. The radiation oncol and the regular oncologist both want him to stop and they say that he will get some salivary usage with the IMRT. The rad oncologist says that his parotid gland will be destroyed on one side no matter what because it is close to the cancerous lymph node. How is everyone tolerating the radiation? How are effects after the treatments and what kind of salivary glands do you have with the IMRT. Does it make a big difference that his primary is unknown, so maybe they want to fry the whole area. Any advice from anyone would be so appreciated. I do realize these are discussion for the doctors, but I think that there first objective is to kill the cancer, and they are not really so concerned with the quality of life after.
Thanks.
A