How long into treatment before tumor starts shrinking?
With the 6-week chemo-radiation treatment, how many weeks into treatment does it take before the primary tumor begins to shrink? The most recent oncologist I saw told me that the tumor in anal canal would begin to shrink 1-2 weeks into treatment. Does that match what you experienced during treatment? Has anyone gone through the entire 6 weeks of treatment with no tumor shrinkage until post-treatment?
kim
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Thanks. I am hoping formp327 said:Kim Gaia
I don't know the answer to your question. My tumor was still seen on my first post-treatment CT scan, but smaller than scans before treatment.
Thanks. I am hoping for (needing) some slight tumor shrinkage early into treatment so that pipe doesn't get blocked, necessitating surgery so I can poo. BMs have gotten more difficult in last 4 weeks, indicating tumor growth. (I am not constipated.) My doctors know this. They seem to be waiting on a pelvic MRI (which I had to request repeatedly before they would even order it) to assess the situation.
kim
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Kim I'm 7 weeks postKim Gaia said:Thanks. I am hoping for
Thanks. I am hoping for (needing) some slight tumor shrinkage early into treatment so that pipe doesn't get blocked, necessitating surgery so I can poo. BMs have gotten more difficult in last 4 weeks, indicating tumor growth. (I am not constipated.) My doctors know this. They seem to be waiting on a pelvic MRI (which I had to request repeatedly before they would even order it) to assess the situation.
kim
Kim I'm 7 weeks post treatment, I meet with a surgeon next week I hope he checks the tumor I beed to hear it's shrinking! I did stop bleeding about 3 weeks post treatment and still none so that's a good sign for me. I take a stool softner & miralax evetynight to keep soft bowel movements but ive always had constipation problems. I pray for God to heal us! God Bless.
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Thanks Nana! Good luck withNana442 said:Kim I'm 7 weeks post
Kim I'm 7 weeks post treatment, I meet with a surgeon next week I hope he checks the tumor I beed to hear it's shrinking! I did stop bleeding about 3 weeks post treatment and still none so that's a good sign for me. I take a stool softner & miralax evetynight to keep soft bowel movements but ive always had constipation problems. I pray for God to heal us! God Bless.
Thanks Nana! Good luck with your meeting next week with surgeon.
kim
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I think I have found the
I think I have found the answer to my question. And if I am reading it correctly, it is good news for me. In this article on using radiation simply to shrink a tumor causing pain, pressure, or blockage, but not to actually cure the cancer (in other words using a smaller palliative dose of RT rather than full-dose), doctors expect to see improvement (i.e., tumor shrinkage) in a few days! That would be great. Here is the article: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/radiotherapy/symptoms/relieve-pressure-or-blockage
From the article: "Radiotherapy can be the quickest way of shrinking a cancer and relieving symptoms when tumours block passages in the body... We can’t say how long your particular treatment will take to work because this general information page covers a lot of different situations. But your specialist would usually expect to see some improvements in your symptoms within a few days."
So if even low-dose/palliative radiation can achieve some tumour shrinkage in just a few days, then surely full-dose RT could do likewise. I feel better after reading this article.
kim
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In my case...Nidus said:Shrinkage
Just finished my first week of radiation and chemo. Have stage IIIA and there is already signs of shrinkage.
In my first go-around, the tumor had erupted through my skin and that portion shrank within about 1-1/2 to 2 weeks after the radiation was started. Your situation may be different, however.
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