Microwave with Y90

debugy2k
debugy2k Member Posts: 85 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1

Hi everyone!

Mom is stage 4 colon cancer mets to liver.  But the surgeons removed the main colon tumor and we're now tackling the liver tumors.

We had Y90 radioactive spheres put in for the liver tumors a few months ago (with not much results) and now they want to try microwave on the tumors in the liver.  

I just have a question for anyone that done the microwave proceedure after the Y90.

Will the microwave proceedure cause any effect on those Y90 spheres that are left in the liver?  I'm guessing those are synthetic micro-spheres?  Will those "melt" when hit by microwaves which in turn causes more problems than help?  I asked the oncologist about this and all she said is that those spheres are absorbed by the body.  I'm not too sure about that because how can you absorb synthetic spheres?!?!

Thanks for your help!!

Comments

  • Joan M
    Joan M Member Posts: 409 Member
    #2
    I had ablation before Y90

    I believe the doctor is right about the body absobing the beads, but it may tatke a bit longer than a few months.  It seems like mine were visible on scans for several months but no longer show up on any scans. 

    The microwave ablation killed off 3 tumors in the left lobe of my liver, but  damaged my gallbladder and bile ducts.  The doctors say that some of the damage could have been from the Y90 which was done only on the right lobe of my liver.  The two procedures cleared my liver of cancer for many months, and may have been close to NED status, but the damage to my gallbladder prevented me from getting chemo for several months and new tumors developed.

    Many on here have had the same procedures with good results.    

     

  • debugy2k
    debugy2k Member Posts: 85 Member
    #3
    Joan M said:

    I had ablation before Y90

    I believe the doctor is right about the body absobing the beads, but it may tatke a bit longer than a few months.  It seems like mine were visible on scans for several months but no longer show up on any scans. 

    The microwave ablation killed off 3 tumors in the left lobe of my liver, but  damaged my gallbladder and bile ducts.  The doctors say that some of the damage could have been from the Y90 which was done only on the right lobe of my liver.  The two procedures cleared my liver of cancer for many months, and may have been close to NED status, but the damage to my gallbladder prevented me from getting chemo for several months and new tumors developed.

    Many on here have had the same procedures with good results.    

     

    Thanks for the information.

    Thanks for the information.

    I checked the history and my mom actually did the Y90 back in Nov 2017.  So pretty much a year now.  Time has been a blur with dealing with cancer.

    I'm sorry to hear about the new tumors...hope chemo will help take care of those.

    Just a question about the microwave ablation procedure.  What happens to the tumor after the microwave?  Does it just get "cooked" off and stays as a "dead" tumor mass in the liver?  Or does it get absorbed in the body and new liver grows in its place?  

  • Joan M
    Joan M Member Posts: 409 Member
    #4
    All of the above

    The tumors are burned and do remain attached to liver and eventually they reabsorb.  Also in my case, there is new liver tissue growing on the left side that was ablated.

    One more thing about the ablation:  they use gas to move the organs away from the ablation site and this gas can get trapped and cause severe pain and referral pain.   after 5 days in pain, I went back to see my doctor, and he was able to suck the gas pretty easily.  Just so you know if that happens, they can help to correct it.   

  • debugy2k
    debugy2k Member Posts: 85 Member
    #5
    Joan M said:

    All of the above

    The tumors are burned and do remain attached to liver and eventually they reabsorb.  Also in my case, there is new liver tissue growing on the left side that was ablated.

    One more thing about the ablation:  they use gas to move the organs away from the ablation site and this gas can get trapped and cause severe pain and referral pain.   after 5 days in pain, I went back to see my doctor, and he was able to suck the gas pretty easily.  Just so you know if that happens, they can help to correct it.   

    Thanks for the info about the

    Thanks for the info about the gas.  Will keep that in mind if any pain occurs.

    Would there be any other things we should watch out for or ask the doctors about?  What are some things you wished you had known before the procedure?  Preparations? etc...

    Thanks for the information so far!! Smile

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