Waiting period between radiation and surgery

Jenny, I was on  neoadjuvant chemo- Folfox plus Avastin, but with no radiation, and  experienced.  There was  significant shrinkage of the tumors according to the CT scan afterwards. I  was told by both the surgeon  and oncologist that they  prefer to delay surgery for at least six weeks because it takes at least six weeks, often longer, for the Avastin to  leave the body.  However, with h me, since I'm stage 4,  and there were several  questionable liver lesions in addition to the definite  cancerous one, they decided to forego surgery for now and try for a more complete response by beginning chemoradiation, which began last week.
  But   I think you said your husband was on 5-FU and radiation, which is different.  From what I've read, in studies  evaluating  different wait times following chemoradiation, " several recent retrospective studies reported that prolonging the interval beyond 8 or even 12 wk may lead to significantly higher rates of tumor downstaging and pathologic complete response. This in turn, according to some reports, may improve overall and disease-free survival, without increasing the surgical difficulty or complications." Source: J Gastrointest Oncol. 2015 Jun; 6(3): E38–E39.

doi:  10.3978/j.issn.2078-6891.2014.106

If you  feel you need more information from the doctor about the delay, ask for  his reasons, and also if  there is anything your husband should be doing in the way of diet, supplements,  lifestyle, etc. I hope your husband does experience further downsizing before surgery. Meanwhile, enjoy this 10 week respite as his body recovers from the  treatment. I hope all goes well.

Grace

I finished my chemo and radiation in March and had the surgery in June. So two months between. It was nice to get back to health before the surgery. I wasn't told to do anything in particular during that time and had gone back to work a few weeks after the chemo and radiation was done. I hope this helps.

Jan

hi jenny

i was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer in May 2015.  I did 28 days of chemo and radiation.  I had to wait 10 weeks before my surgery so everything could heal and still string my tumor.  I had my surgery on Nov 16 with a temporary islosomy bag.  I will have additional chemo treatments for 12 sessions with my reconnection surgery in 8 months.  

i did great and had no pain after the surgery.  I was in the hospital for 6 days because of leakage problems only.  My cancer responded well to the treatment and I found out yesterday that the surgeon got all of the cancer.  18 lymph nodes were negative.  For me, I was scared but I had a good support system.  I m thankful that everything will get better.

good luck

Jen1988 said:

Thanks so much Jan, DD3, and

Thanks so much Jan, DD3, and Scattom for sharing your experience.. 

Would you also let me know whether your surgery was open or robotic? Hubby will have it robotically. 

Scattom: welcome to the site.. Happy to know your surgery was a success and you r healing good.

 

my wife's was open.  The surgeon remove approximately 8 inches of her colon/rectum.  Clean margins.  Took out, I believe 15 lymphnodes of which 6 tested positive.  Ugh.  Stupid lymphnodes. After all was said and done.  The was diagnosed as Stage IIIB......