Stivarga

LAckerm1

My husband has been battling colon cancer since Jan 2004. Had surgery and 6 months of chemo. All was well until Jan 2011 when spots in pleural lining showed up plus mediastinal lymph node involvement. Biopsy confirmed metastatic adenocarcinoma. Has been on weekly treatments since Jan 2011 advancing from one to the next as they stopped working ( 5FU, OXILAPLATIN,IRINOTECAN, avastin, ERUBITUX) and now Stivarga. Also did a phase one clinical trial, had cyber knife on a rib that was impacted by tumor and recently had a drain put in pleural cavity for drainage. We are fortunate to live in Cleveland and have had wonderful medical care at Seidmen Cancer Center.  I also feel lucky to work for the same hospital system where he has been getting his treatment.  At any rate he is in his 2nd round of Stivara (4 pills daily for 3 weeks and one week off). I have tried too find info from others on this new treatment without success, so, I am reaching out via this site to anyone who has any experience with it. At this point I feel that he is getting weaker and drifting further away from me daily.  

Lovekitties

Hi

I have no personal knowledge of this drug.  In fact I had a hard time finding it on the net.

I finally went to the FDA web site.  The following is the link for the label info and also includes more detailed info about studies done, etc.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2012/203085lbl.pdf

 

I hope this may help you.

Marie who loves kitties

renw

Stivarga is the brand name for Regorafenib. It is a promising new treatment thats adds another option after Folfox and Folfiri. I have been told to look into this by a researcher I spoke to, however it is currently not approved in Australia where I am from.

There is debate going atm whether giving folfox and waiting till it fails is better than rotating different chemo agents every few months so that the cancer does not build up immunity. A trial is needed to answer this question. Personally, Rotating chemo protocols makes more sense to me.

steveandnat

I'm taking Stivarga

I'm staring my second round of Stivarga. The first three weeks weren't too bad but this week has been a little rough. I needed a blood transfusion and have had bouts with vomiting and diarea.  The one week break didn't seem like enough time.  The real side effect seems to be tiredness.  That could be from doing chemo for so long.  I don't know too many other trying Stivargo but imagine there will be more over time. I was dx June 2009 stage 4 and been through all the regular chemos. Did you have Zaltrap chemo yet ? It is new but my last scan showed it was keeping rectal, liver intack but not controlling the timers in my lungs. This cancer is such a crazy ride. It's nice to meet someone who is also taking Stivarga...we will have to stay in touch. Jeff

dianelynn41

steveandnat said:

I'm taking Stivarga

I'm staring my second round of Stivarga. The first three weeks weren't too bad but this week has been a little rough. I needed a blood transfusion and have had bouts with vomiting and diarea.  The one week break didn't seem like enough time.  The real side effect seems to be tiredness.  That could be from doing chemo for so long.  I don't know too many other trying Stivargo but imagine there will be more over time. I was dx June 2009 stage 4 and been through all the regular chemos. Did you have Zaltrap chemo yet ? It is new but my last scan showed it was keeping rectal, liver intack but not controlling the timers in my lungs. This cancer is such a crazy ride. It's nice to meet someone who is also taking Stivarga...we will have to stay in touch. Jeff

My husband

My husband took 3 rounds of Stivarga.  The first worked like a miracle, he had a recurrent tumor that was protruding out where his rectum use to be and in a week it shrank back.  Dr called it a miracle.  We had big hopes, but then it seemed to just stop working.  His cea drop some but no big shrinkage again.  He was so tired and had to have a tranfusion and fought dehydration and his appetite decreased.  Never had diarrea or vomiting though.

He ate most of his meals early in the day, by evening he didn't want to eat anything.  Just had to push lots of fluids, he also did alot of supplements and juicing.

pbec

Stivarga

My oncologist advised that stivarga was just approved for colon cancer late last year. I'd like to hear more from those who are taking it now as this appears to be an option for me. A person who was part of the Stivarga study before its approval for colon cancer has now survived for six years past their estimated length of survival. I hope the very best for you all.  I've been through surgery, six months of chemo and now starting chemo again after mets to mediastinum, neck and abdomen were found post chemo. I was pretty stunned to hear that after all this it is incureable. I'll be 49 next month and I'm already planning to have a BIG 50th. 

renw

Another potential drug in the

Another potential drug in the pipe line is TAS102.

torcop

Stivarga

I just started my second round of this drug, 4 th week treatment, and Oncologist reduced the dose to 3 tablets after being on 4, to reduce side effects.

The first three weeks i became much weaker, lighter appetite, and a little more pain, also some weight loss, started 3 pills today but my catscan after 3 treatments showed the tumors were dying in the liver and none had grown larger

You can also reduce this med to two  pills, but i wanted to try another month on the 3 pill option.

 

I am also stage 4, in Colon,Lungs and Liver

 

EMAIL MAIL ME ANY TIME AT if we can exchange info Thanks

edlafosse@msn.com

 

ED

CANADA

Lolly1001

Stivarga

This post is to describe my husband's experience with Stivarga, which has been positive.

History: At 52, my husband (who was in great shape--daily workouts, healthy eating, no alcohol or smoking) was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer Sept 2014. As part of MD Anderson's testing, they also discovered a separate incidence of Colon Cancer Nov 2015.  For the Esophageal Cancer, he received Docetaxel/5FU and radiation prior to the esophectomy Feb 2015. Surgery was successful and no lymph node involvement. No adjuvant chemo required. In April 2015, he had the colon resection (18" removed). Twelve of 28 nodes had cancer, and the surgeon found and removed a small met in the liver.  He is now Stage IV.  The biopsy was inconclusive whether it was an esophageal or colon metastasis.

Since November 2014, he has had Docetaxel/5FU (D-Fox), FolFox, XELOX, and FolFiri--two more liver mets appeared. 

When the 3rd met appeared on the liver, they performed a biopsy, which indicated it was colon cancer metastasis (not esophageal).

So, the oncologist suggested my husband try Stivarga. Everything I read online had us terrified, but felt he had no choice if he wanted to beat the cancer.

Stivarga Experience: He is now in his 5th cycle of Stivarga. He takes 3 pills each morning for 3 weeks with 1 week off--the oncologist said none of his patients had been able to handle the recommended 4 tablet dose, so he started him at 3.  He has had minimal side effects that include tiredness, skin rashes (small areas) muscle aches, and random blood pressure spikes with racing heart. The first cycle caused some tenderness/redness of his feet, but keeping them moisturized seemed to help. He has been able to continue working full time throughout the Stivarga. He says he prefers Stivarga over all the other treatments.

After the 3rd cycle and another CT, the liver surgeon felt the mets were shrinking and no new mets appeared, so he performed liver ablation on the 2 spots remaining.

His CT scan last week showed no evidence of cancer!

The oncologist wants him to complete two more cycles, which will be a total of 6.  Then they will do a full restaging for both the esophagus and colon (CT, endoscopy, and colonoscopy). Of course, we are praying that those go well, and he can get a break from the chemo for at least a few months.

So, the bottom line: At this point, Stivarga has stopped the progression of the cancer and the side effects are manageable.

MS2014

Lolly1001 said:

Stivarga

This post is to describe my husband's experience with Stivarga, which has been positive.

History: At 52, my husband (who was in great shape--daily workouts, healthy eating, no alcohol or smoking) was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer Sept 2014. As part of MD Anderson's testing, they also discovered a separate incidence of Colon Cancer Nov 2015.  For the Esophageal Cancer, he received Docetaxel/5FU and radiation prior to the esophectomy Feb 2015. Surgery was successful and no lymph node involvement. No adjuvant chemo required. In April 2015, he had the colon resection (18" removed). Twelve of 28 nodes had cancer, and the surgeon found and removed a small met in the liver.  He is now Stage IV.  The biopsy was inconclusive whether it was an esophageal or colon metastasis.

Since November 2014, he has had Docetaxel/5FU (D-Fox), FolFox, XELOX, and FolFiri--two more liver mets appeared. 

When the 3rd met appeared on the liver, they performed a biopsy, which indicated it was colon cancer metastasis (not esophageal).

So, the oncologist suggested my husband try Stivarga. Everything I read online had us terrified, but felt he had no choice if he wanted to beat the cancer.

Stivarga Experience: He is now in his 5th cycle of Stivarga. He takes 3 pills each morning for 3 weeks with 1 week off--the oncologist said none of his patients had been able to handle the recommended 4 tablet dose, so he started him at 3.  He has had minimal side effects that include tiredness, skin rashes (small areas) muscle aches, and random blood pressure spikes with racing heart. The first cycle caused some tenderness/redness of his feet, but keeping them moisturized seemed to help. He has been able to continue working full time throughout the Stivarga. He says he prefers Stivarga over all the other treatments.

After the 3rd cycle and another CT, the liver surgeon felt the mets were shrinking and no new mets appeared, so he performed liver ablation on the 2 spots remaining.

His CT scan last week showed no evidence of cancer!

The oncologist wants him to complete two more cycles, which will be a total of 6.  Then they will do a full restaging for both the esophagus and colon (CT, endoscopy, and colonoscopy). Of course, we are praying that those go well, and he can get a break from the chemo for at least a few months.

So, the bottom line: At this point, Stivarga has stopped the progression of the cancer and the side effects are manageable.

Great news!!!!

Thanks for sharing your experience Lolly.

It is great to know your husband is doing so great in stivarga. It think it is not so usual

Just a thing, As far as I undestood Did they had to wait until mets stopped growing to do the ablation?

Thanks for the info and BR

All the best

 

 

Trubrit

*Deep Sigh*

Ren and steveandnat, lost their battle. So sad to see their pictures, but happy I was able to 'get to know them' on the forum. 

Sue - Trubrit

Lolly1001

MS2014 said:

Great news!!!!

Thanks for sharing your experience Lolly.

It is great to know your husband is doing so great in stivarga. It think it is not so usual

Just a thing, As far as I undestood Did they had to wait until mets stopped growing to do the ablation?

Thanks for the info and BR

All the best

 

 

Ablation

MS2014, my husband's liver surgeon at MD Anderson would not go forward with the liver ablation until he saw signs that chemo was working. I don't know if that is standard procedure though.

We actually had an ablation scheduled before my husband went on Stivarga, but the CT scan the day before showed a new spot, so the ablation was cancelled the morning he was supposed to have the procedure.

MS2014

Lolly1001 said:

Ablation

MS2014, my husband's liver surgeon at MD Anderson would not go forward with the liver ablation until he saw signs that chemo was working. I don't know if that is standard procedure though.

We actually had an ablation scheduled before my husband went on Stivarga, but the CT scan the day before showed a new spot, so the ablation was cancelled the morning he was supposed to have the procedure.

Thanks Lolly

It seems it is the standard procedure. Stop mets before any surgery

So happy for you and your husband. It is great to know things are doing well for you

Kisses and best whishes from Spain

Maria

 

 

 

 

Terri_georgia

I'm finishing my last week of

I'm finishing my last week of 5 treatments..GIST cancer..I grew resistant to gleevec..my 3rd diagnosis..tumor outside of stomach and pancreas..was growing fast but after 3 treatment tumor stopped growing..I have a scan Friday to see if it's shrinking..I take 4 pills a day..it's rough..I have headaches...confusion..sores on hands..feet hurt when I ealk..weakness.fatique..HB..hair loss..muscle loss..neuropathy..constipation..sinus pain..stomach pains..sores in my mouth..no appetite..I've lost 22 lbs..stay in bed most days..not able to work..I will update on friday

NewHere

Terri_georgia

This thread was started quite ahwile ago.  And was bumped by someone a year ago.  You may want to start a new introduction thread, sorry you have to be here, but really good place because people are great here.

blessed39

"How I Beat Stage Four Colon Cancer"

Dear LAckerm1.  If you would be interested in reading my story "How I Beat Stage Four Colon Cancer" just go to my page

blessed39 and click on blog and my story will come up. I don't give medical advice, just what worked for me. God bless

blessed39