Proton therapy

myAZmountain

Wondering if anyone familiar or having had this therapy would explain the criteria for having this treatment--specifically for lung mets?  And if the thrapy worked? Thanks so much!!

BGNor

Hi

If you do search here, you will find a post by RoscoeDouglas. He has done multiple lung mets treatment with Proton therapy with success.

I've got 9 mets, looking for similar solutions for myself.

Best regards, Bjorn

myAZmountain

BGNor said:

Hi

If you do search here, you will find a post by RoscoeDouglas. He has done multiple lung mets treatment with Proton therapy with success.

I've got 9 mets, looking for similar solutions for myself.

Best regards, Bjorn

Not a candidate

Met with Mayo doc for second opinion and options for alternative treatment and he basically said the only option for me in Chemo--basicaly forever. I still don't understand really, I have two tumors in Right lower lobe that are less than 1 cm . I wish I could find an oncologist that wanted to fight for me instead of write me off.

plsletitrain

2 mets

I think that's still operable.  I'm no doctor but I think if they're situated close to each other, then it can be operated.  Or who knows by chemo, one or two of them will be gone.  I don't like docs that don't give hope.  I know we need to be realistic, but I think they shouldn't give answers that seem so final and sure because nothing ever is.

abita

myAZmountain said:

Not a candidate

Met with Mayo doc for second opinion and options for alternative treatment and he basically said the only option for me in Chemo--basicaly forever. I still don't understand really, I have two tumors in Right lower lobe that are less than 1 cm . I wish I could find an oncologist that wanted to fight for me instead of write me off.

My sympathies as I know

My sympathies as I know exactly how horrible it is to hear chemo for life.

SandiaBuddy

myAZmountain said:

Not a candidate

Met with Mayo doc for second opinion and options for alternative treatment and he basically said the only option for me in Chemo--basicaly forever. I still don't understand really, I have two tumors in Right lower lobe that are less than 1 cm . I wish I could find an oncologist that wanted to fight for me instead of write me off.

other thread

If you have not already you might want to look at this thread: https://csn.cancer.org/node/317416

myAZmountain

SandiaBuddy said:

other thread

If you have not already you might want to look at this thread: https://csn.cancer.org/node/317416

Thanks for the info--I have

Thanks for the info--I have lung mets so don't know if same rules apply as liver? 

SandiaBuddy

myAZmountain said:

Thanks for the info--I have

Thanks for the info--I have lung mets so don't know if same rules apply as liver? 

Oops

Ooops, my oversight.  But one might imagine a specialized surgeon could have a different opinion.

 

BGNor

myAZmountain said:

Not a candidate

Met with Mayo doc for second opinion and options for alternative treatment and he basically said the only option for me in Chemo--basicaly forever. I still don't understand really, I have two tumors in Right lower lobe that are less than 1 cm . I wish I could find an oncologist that wanted to fight for me instead of write me off.

Laser surgery?

Hi again

Under 'normal' circumstances 2 mets, under 1 cm size, confined to the lower rigth lobe should be possible to remove with standard wegde resection. Or at least a lobectomy. From what I got from doctors, the limit for surgery is 4-5 mets. The position of these mets could of course dictate if they could be removed with surgery. Roscoe Douglas went to Loma Linda for his proton treatment, maybe they see things differently with respect to proton therapy?

I have another suggestion that you could look into - Laser Surgery (I got this tip from the user tanstaafl at this forum).

Laser surgery for lung mets was developed by a german surgeon, dr.Axel Rolle. Another well known surgeon using this technique was George Ladas. They are both retired, but the Laser technique is still in use. The 2 names that I came over most frequently, when researching this are: Steffen Drewes at Fachkrankenhaus Coswig and Bernward Passlick at the University Clinic of Freiburg. The technique is basically to resect tumors with smaller margins than ordinary surgery, retaining as much lung tissue as possible. This would probably allow them to access tumors that are positioned sligthly more difficult.

I did settle on Fachkrankenhaus Coswig, which is the clinic where this technique has been developed by dr.Axel Rolle. My lung mets are currently too small for surgery, but I have this as a future option.

Contact Antje Richter if you want to pursue this further: http://www.fachkrankenhaus-coswig.de/leistungspektrum/thoraxchirurgie.html

They didn't charge me anything for a review of my CT scans and medical records. Website state a fee of 50 Euro now, but that is worth it I guess.

There are a few conditions that must be met: Primary cancer must be removed and the metastases must be confined to the lungs.

I have a load of articles downloaded about this, but haven't saved all the links. Here are a few pointers:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022522306002364

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16444696

https://genmedhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Eraser-information-LUNG-V1.0.pdf

 

Here is a patient experience from the Coswig hosptial:

http://famouslastwordsjt.blogspot.com/2010/01/full-report-of-dr-rolle-laser-treatment.html

 

Hope this could be of some help.

Regards, Bjorn