Y 90

wildone
wildone Member Posts: 3
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi! I am new to this network but I was diagnosed in May of 2011 with stage 4 colon cancer. I have had a full round of Fulfox (?) chemo, then holiday for 8 months and am back on Fulfox. I am looking at having the Y90 radiation treatment for the humongus tumor in my liver and am wondering if anyone out there has had it and how did it go? Thanks so much! Looking forward to chatting with eveyone...

Comments

  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    #2
    welcome wildone
    heard some stories about y90 i think, but i'll leave it to others who have done it comment.
    my hobby is alternative colorectal treatments. hobby might be an understatement.

    welcome again.

    hugs,
    pete
  • wildone
    wildone Member Posts: 3
    #3
    pete43lost_at_sea said:

    welcome wildone
    heard some stories about y90 i think, but i'll leave it to others who have done it comment.
    my hobby is alternative colorectal treatments. hobby might be an understatement.

    welcome again.

    hugs,
    pete

    hi!
    Thank you Pete! I like your "hobby"! Would love to hear what you know about alternative treatments! Mine consist of meditation and lately a lot of celery and thyme :)and as always living much! xo
  • smokeyjoe
    smokeyjoe Member Posts: 1,425 Member
    #4
    wildone said:

    hi!
    Thank you Pete! I like your "hobby"! Would love to hear what you know about alternative treatments! Mine consist of meditation and lately a lot of celery and thyme :)and as always living much! xo

    Never heard of this before.
    Never heard of this before. Keep us posted how it goes. Has your tumor responded to the chemo?
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #5
    Welcome
    Don't know about that treatment but just wanted to welcome you to the board. Hope your treatment is shrinking the tumor. Ask away with any questions, there is usually someone here that can answer you. Welcome again.

    Kim
  • steved
    steved Member Posts: 834 Member
    #6
    Y90 treatment
    I have heard of this but not had it and not sure anyone here has. It is use of yttrium-90 which is a radioactive substance that is held by microspheres and delivered directly into the tumour. It is FDA approved and has some good trials to support it including this phase three trial.
    http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/28/23/3687.short

    It seems to beone of those therapies like brachytherapy and intraoperative radiotherapy that had quite a lot of study in the late nineties and last decade but there is little recent stuff suggestive it hasn't really made the mainstream.

    I would be interested to hear more of yr experience. Will you use it chemo as a radiosensitizer and where are you being treated?

    Steve
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #7
    WildOne
    I'm not familiar with Y90 either. I took the HAI pump therapy route instead after a cycle of Avastin to starve the liver tumor and had great success with my treatment choice.
    Best of luck to you...Keep us posted if you can.
    -phil
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    #8
    smokeyjoe said:

    Never heard of this before.
    Never heard of this before. Keep us posted how it goes. Has your tumor responded to the chemo?

    tho its from Oct, 2011, here's a little on Yttrium-90
    www.medicalnewstoday.com/printerfriendlynews.php?newsid=236312

    i'm sure by now there's alot more info available
  • Varmint5
    Varmint5 Member Posts: 384 Member
    #9
    My daughter had it
    She had the right lobe done May 25 and the left lobe June 27 with Theraspheres. Her CEA went up some after the procedure and her oncologist and interventional radiologist said it "didn't work" and there was tumor growth. So her oncologist stopped her chemo. (#$@%^?????) So we went to Cancer Treatment Center of America for a second opinion. And they said that they never scan before three months out from the last procedure because the tumors appear to "swell" with inflammation before shrinking and this can be misinterpreted as "growth." So we are waiting. They restarted her chemo and added Erbitux. She is doing fairly well. We are waiting until closer to the end of this month for a scan to follow up on the Theraspheres. In the meantime, her CEA is dropping and liver enzymes are normalizing.

    She tolerated the procedure well - had some pain that she said felt like "heartburn" or chest pain but heartburn medicine did not touch it. So she took pain meds and they helped. Her pain started in the car as we were leaving the facility. It lasted about a week each time, then gradually resolved. She was very fatigued following both procedures.

    Her Theraspheres were administered at a newly designated NCI cancer center. I actually don't think they have that much experience there with Y90 spheres and colon cancer - more so with primary liver cancer. You can expect to have a "trial run" of the procedure for liver mapping and a lung shunt study to see how much of the radiation would go to your lungs. Also, they will block off any arteries that supply other organs to keep the radiation from going to those organs.

    My daugher said it was very high tech and "futuristic" and fascinating to watch the proceedings from the center of it all - she was awake throughout the procedure and said it did not hurt. She was discharged from the hospital within a couple of hours after the procedure.

    Best wishes to you.

    Sandy
  • iluvmms
    iluvmms Member Posts: 134 Member
    #10
    Varmint5 said:

    My daughter had it
    She had the right lobe done May 25 and the left lobe June 27 with Theraspheres. Her CEA went up some after the procedure and her oncologist and interventional radiologist said it "didn't work" and there was tumor growth. So her oncologist stopped her chemo. (#$@%^?????) So we went to Cancer Treatment Center of America for a second opinion. And they said that they never scan before three months out from the last procedure because the tumors appear to "swell" with inflammation before shrinking and this can be misinterpreted as "growth." So we are waiting. They restarted her chemo and added Erbitux. She is doing fairly well. We are waiting until closer to the end of this month for a scan to follow up on the Theraspheres. In the meantime, her CEA is dropping and liver enzymes are normalizing.

    She tolerated the procedure well - had some pain that she said felt like "heartburn" or chest pain but heartburn medicine did not touch it. So she took pain meds and they helped. Her pain started in the car as we were leaving the facility. It lasted about a week each time, then gradually resolved. She was very fatigued following both procedures.

    Her Theraspheres were administered at a newly designated NCI cancer center. I actually don't think they have that much experience there with Y90 spheres and colon cancer - more so with primary liver cancer. You can expect to have a "trial run" of the procedure for liver mapping and a lung shunt study to see how much of the radiation would go to your lungs. Also, they will block off any arteries that supply other organs to keep the radiation from going to those organs.

    My daugher said it was very high tech and "futuristic" and fascinating to watch the proceedings from the center of it all - she was awake throughout the procedure and said it did not hurt. She was discharged from the hospital within a couple of hours after the procedure.

    Best wishes to you.

    Sandy

    y 90
    I had this done in Florida in November 2009. I was then able to have Liver Resection in April 2010. Still NED today.

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