Avastin or Erbitux

lostsolost

please help... long story some what short is my stage 3c colon cancer is now stage 4. finished first round of chemo (5FU+oxiliplatin) 3/28/16, re-scanned in April and found it in my liver. Tumor board recommended surgery, met with surgeon and she said i was not a good candidate because my tumors formed while i was on chemo. I have an appointment with my oncologist this friday (6/10) to discuss treatment. She had mentioned folfiri in combination with either avastin or erbitux. i'm just worried about the side effects and wondering what others have experienced while on either. And maybe if anybody recommended one over the other. i don't know, i just need some kind of guidance/assurance/support

zx10guy

Have you had any genetic

Have you had any genetic testing on your tumors to determine if you're KRAS wild or mutant?  This is important as if you're KRAS mutant, Erbitux will not work for you.  From my readings, Erbitux attempts to block receptors on tumor cells which signal cell division...hence growth of the tumor.

Avastin acts differently as it attempts to cut off blood supply to the tumor by preventing growth of new blood vessels.

Trubrit

Second opinion

A second opinion from another surgeon wouldn't go amiss.  

I had a liver tumour after my chemo & radiation.  They thought it was a hemangeoma at first as it stayed the same size while I was on the chemo, but grew when I finished. I had mine ablated (thermal) two years ago with no follow-up chemo, and so far so good. 

Others here can give you advice on the meds.

SUE

zx10guy

I agree with Sue that a

I agree with Sue that a second opinion may be prudent.

Just curious, has a PET been ordered to verify metabolic activity of the liver lesion?

PhillieG

Second Opinion and Avastin

I've been treated with both drugs at various times. Avastin shrunk my liver tumors so I could be operated on. I had minimal side effects. I'm pretty sure it just thinned my blood. Erbitux very often comes with a nasty rash but it was effective for me at one point. I certainly don't miss that drug...

DO get a second opnion.

lostsolost

zx10guy said:

Have you had any genetic

Have you had any genetic testing on your tumors to determine if you're KRAS wild or mutant?  This is important as if you're KRAS mutant, Erbitux will not work for you.  From my readings, Erbitux attempts to block receptors on tumor cells which signal cell division...hence growth of the tumor.

Avastin acts differently as it attempts to cut off blood supply to the tumor by preventing growth of new blood vessels.

yes i did. it's wild

yes i did. it's wild

lostsolost

zx10guy said:

I agree with Sue that a

I agree with Sue that a second opinion may be prudent.

Just curious, has a PET been ordered to verify metabolic activity of the liver lesion?

I had a pet and mri prior to

I had a pet and mri prior to the tumor board reviewing my case. 2 light up and the 3rd they said didn't and its too small to charecterize. the 2 are 1.7cm right sided and the other 1.5 inward

lostsolost

Trubrit said:

Second opinion

A second opinion from another surgeon wouldn't go amiss.  

I had a liver tumour after my chemo & radiation.  They thought it was a hemangeoma at first as it stayed the same size while I was on the chemo, but grew when I finished. I had mine ablated (thermal) two years ago with no follow-up chemo, and so far so good. 

Others here can give you advice on the meds.

SUE

ok, thank you

ok, thank you

lostsolost

PhillieG said:

Second Opinion and Avastin

I've been treated with both drugs at various times. Avastin shrunk my liver tumors so I could be operated on. I had minimal side effects. I'm pretty sure it just thinned my blood. Erbitux very often comes with a nasty rash but it was effective for me at one point. I certainly don't miss that drug...

DO get a second opnion.

Honestly i am worried about

Honestly i am worried about the erbitux side effects and that it seems there aren't many more options. Thank you for your response

SilentRenegade

I have no experience with

I have no experience with Erbitux because my dad has a KRAS mutation, not wild-type. However, he was on Avastin and ended up having severe GI bleeding that required a couple of blood transfusions. This is a risk of a couple therapies like this, but is considered extremely rare. 

traci43

avastin side effects

Ive had Avastin with no side effects, although my blood pressure rose slightly, but still well within normal ranges.  I'm KRAS mutant so no Erubitux for me.

lizard44

Avastin and Erbitux

I had Avastin in combination with Folfox and my liver tumor shrank.  It grew again while I was getting radiation and 5-FU to shrink the rectal tumor, and now I'm on Erbitux plus Irinotecan to  try to shrink the liver tumor again. I didn't have any of the expected side-effects  with  Avastin.  I've had five Erbitux/Irinotecan treatments but have had the  skin problems  Phillie mentioned. The rash is not fun at all but it's bearable.   We won't know how well the  Erbitux has worked until I get a scan after the next (sixth) treatment.

MS2014

Avastin +FOLFOX

My mother was in avastin+FOLFOX and tumors shrank and had a hepatic resection. Side effects were not good but managable first and second round, after that no side effects for FOLFOX and avastin just some bloody nose from time to time but nothing important. Hope this helps

lostsolost

Folfiri+Avastin

My dr decided on avastin. I start next monday. Will be on my 3rd session when they will re-scan and the surgeon will evalute. If tumors are responding she said i'm looking at surgery beginning of September. Thank you to everyone for responding.