No change in tumor size for 2 months, need help!

JynxPhD
JynxPhD Member Posts: 11
edited March 2014 in Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin) #1
My husband was diagnosed in Aug 2009 with Stage IIA bulky Hodgkin's. He had a mediastinal mass of 20cm x 20cm x 12cm. He started ABVD and after 2 cycles the tumor had shrunk to 7cm x 9cm. That was great. Well the 3 month scan showed the tumor was 7cm x 8.8cm and the doctor said that wasn't enough shrinkage. We continued on with the ABVD for another month and got the results of his latest scans on Monday. No significant reduction in size and PET showed activity (don't know value because the dr wouldn't tell us, his initial PET before treatment was 4.5). Dr. is at a loss. He is consulting with 2 more oncologist and reviewing scans and will meet with us again on Dec. 29 to discuss options. Has anyone else dealt with this? Can radiation take care of what is left? What other treatments are available? I read about BEACOPP but it hasn't been brought up yet?

Comments

  • sandybe
    sandybe Member Posts: 40
    #2
    no change in size
    I remember them telling me that Hodgkins is very sensitive to radiation. I too had a very large mediastinal mass that reacted well to ABVD. Eight months following chemo the mass began to grow again and they treated me with radiation. I am not a year and half post rads and so far so good. They always told me that Lymphoma reacts well to radiation. I hope that is the case for you too. Not the recurrence of course, but the treatment working.
  • sassemink
    sassemink Member Posts: 9
    #3
    mass
    When I was diagnosed with hodgkin's, my mass was 19 cm. After the first cycle, the mass shrank 10 cm. We were overjoyed. After the second cycle of ABVD, the mass only shrank 1 cm. The only person who saw that as a positive was my husband. The onc and I were both devastated. Because of this, I was scheduled for an autologous stem cell transplant to be completed at the end of treatment. (Fortunately, my final PET came back clear, and although we harvested cells, we opted to freeze them incase of a recurrence.) My mass at the end of treatment as still at about 8 cm. After radiation, the mass continued to shrink a small amount. I am 3 years out of treatment, and the mass is at 5.8 cm. It will never be smaller, and it will never go away. I suppose what I'm saying is that after the initial GREAT reduction, no other great shrinkage was obtained. Radiation did help reduce the size of the tumor a small amount.

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