Avastin for recurrence of MMMT?

bookmouse
bookmouse Member Posts: 1
edited October 2013 in Uterine/Endometrial Cancer #1

Does anyone have any experience with Avastin for a recurrence of MMMT?  My doctor has mentioned this as a possibility, and I'm not finding much about its use with this particular cancer.

I have finally joined after almost a year of reading the posts on this board. I want to thank everyone who posts because it has been so helpful to read what others are going through and what treatment they have received (as well as all of the nutritional information and tips on how to deal with chemo hair).

By way of introduction, this is my story. I was diagnosed with MMMT (uterine carcinosarcoma) in November of 2012 after some vaginal bleeding nine years after menopause. I had a total hysterectomy two days before Thanksgiving. (At least I didn't have to cook dinner!)  They also removed 7 lymph nodes which were negative. The cancer was staged as 1A. Unfortunately, the saline washings from surgery never made it to pathology and so weren't tested.

I started chemo at the beginning of January and did six cycles of carboplatin/paclitaxel as well as getting five vaginal brachytherapy treatments in March. My CT scan in May three weeks after chemo finished was normal, and at my three-month followup in July my CA125 was normal (although since that wasn't tested before surgery, my oncologist was not sure whether it was even a good marker for me).

In late August I started having a lot of digestive upset which didn't resolve with usual over-the-counter remedies, and then I got very bloated. I had a CT scan and before I had even driven out of the parking lot, the doctor called to tell me that there was a mass in my abdomen which was causing lots of fluid to be produced, hence the bloating. My CA125 jumped to 713, so evidently it is a marker for my cancer.

Last week I had laparoscopic surgery to biopsy the tumor. They decided not to try to remove it all because they wanted to start chemo immediately and not wait for a big incision to heal. A piece was sent off to be tested to see which drugs will be most effective. In the meantime, I had one round of Doxil the day after surgery, and the doctor has mentioned Avastin as a possibility while we're waiting for the results from the biopsy.  So, any insights on Avastin would be much appreciated.

 

Comments

  • RoseyR
    RoseyR Member Posts: 471 Member
    #2
    Avastin for your tumor?

    Dear Bookmouse,

    As someone who shares your kind of tumor (MMMT uterine, stage IB when diagnosed in 2010), I DO recall someone on our boards who had reported having been treated with Avastin.

     

    Her screen name was "MadCoast" and you will find her post under the heading "Any MMMT survivors out there?"; she left the post about a year and a half ago, I think.

     

    Apparently Avastin DID help her own MMMT uterine cancer (she had refused chemo, I recall).  

     

    She also mentioned LDN as a medication that had kept her in remission for some time.  (You can do your own research on LDN, which is inexpensive and has few side effects; I've been on it for a year now and it's been three years since my diagnossis.   Am feeling good and working full time after finishing treatment (six rounds of taxol/carboplatin and 25 sessions of external pelvic radiation) in August of 2011.

    Best,

    Rosey R

     

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