How long into treatment before tumor starts shrinking?

Kim Gaia
Kim Gaia Member Posts: 73
in Anal Cancer #1

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

 

Comments

  • mp327
    mp327 Member Posts: 4,440 Member
    #2
    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.

  • Kim Gaia
    Kim Gaia Member Posts: 73
    #3
    mp327 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

    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

  • Nana442
    Nana442 Member Posts: 30
    #4
    Kim 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

    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.

  • Kim Gaia
    Kim Gaia Member Posts: 73
    #5
    Nana442 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

    Thanks Nana! Good luck with your meeting next week with surgeon. :)

    kim

  • Kim Gaia
    Kim Gaia Member Posts: 73
    #6
    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

     

  • Nidus
    Nidus Member Posts: 4
    edited June 2018 #7
    Shrinkage

    Just finished my first week of radiation and chemo.  Have stage IIIA and there is already signs of shrinkage.  

     

  • Kim Gaia
    Kim Gaia Member Posts: 73
    #8
    Nidus said:

    Shrinkage

    Just finished my first week of radiation and chemo.  Have stage IIIA and there is already signs of shrinkage.  

     

    Thanks for that info, Nidus.

    Thanks for that info, Nidus. Good to know! Good luck to you on your treatment.

    kim

  • Ouch_Ouch_Ouch
    Ouch_Ouch_Ouch Member Posts: 508 Member
    #9
    Nidus said:

    Shrinkage

    Just finished my first week of radiation and chemo.  Have stage IIIA and there is already signs of shrinkage.  

     

    In my case...

    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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