Another avastin question

katienavs
katienavs Member Posts: 88 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi. I, too, have a question regarding avastin after surgery. My initial chemo regimen consisted of folfox and avastin. I had this for three rounds followed by chemoradiation and surgery in October. I'm now in the middle of my eight rounds of post-op chemo which is just folfox.
My oncologist said that I would not receive avastin after surgery because the tumor was completely removed and the way avastin works is to cut off the blood supply to the tumor. So if there is no tumor then avastin doesn't really have anything to do and the risks are higher after having had radiation and surgery. She also said there aren't any studies yet about the effectiveness of avastin once the tumor has been removed and she doesn't want to risk it.
This all seemed to make perfect sense to me but I have read that some of you on here have received post-op avastin and I am hoping you can tell me what your oncologist has said about that. I would apreciate any information on this you have.
Thanks a lot!

Comments

  • nanuk
    nanuk Member Posts: 1,358 Member
    #2
    it sounds like you are stage II Or III, so this probably won't apply-I am stage IV, and have had some shrinkage with Avastin/P-mab monotherapy. In your case the Onc, is essentially saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it..obviously the possible side effects from Avastin are not worth the use of the drug when there is nothing to target..
  • katienavs
    katienavs Member Posts: 88 Member
    #3
    nanuk said:

    it sounds like you are stage II Or III, so this probably won't apply-I am stage IV, and have had some shrinkage with Avastin/P-mab monotherapy. In your case the Onc, is essentially saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it..obviously the possible side effects from Avastin are not worth the use of the drug when there is nothing to target..

    sorry, i should have included that my initial post. i am stage iv with mets to the liver but after radiation all that was left of the primary tumor was scar tissue and they were able to completely remove everything with surgery.
  • dash4
    dash4 Member Posts: 303 Member
    #4
    Hi, please read the previous post on my reply about my husband's experience with Avastin. If you still have other questions, let me know. Good luck to you.
    Dash
  • Betsydoglover
    Betsydoglover Member Posts: 1,248 Member
    #5
    Hi -

    I'm not a doc and it is not clear what surgery you had. Assuming it was colon surgery and you have one or more liver mets, Avastin is pretty standard for Stage IV treatment after removal of the primary colon tumor. If your surgery was a liver resection, as I understand it even then, many people go on chemo + Avastin for a while following resection of liver tumors.

    I may be confused - but "liver mets" to me does not equate with "no tumor". As I understand it Avastin is used to keep those mets from growing into a big giant tumor.

    Katienavs - I am not trying to scare you - only letting you know that many (most?) Stage IV patients have Avastin treatment. Avastin + chemo has been very successful for me, but I am just one Stage IV patient.

    Take care and if you have any more questions, please ask.

    Betsy
  • katienavs
    katienavs Member Posts: 88 Member
    #6
    Betsydoglover said:

    Hi -

    I'm not a doc and it is not clear what surgery you had. Assuming it was colon surgery and you have one or more liver mets, Avastin is pretty standard for Stage IV treatment after removal of the primary colon tumor. If your surgery was a liver resection, as I understand it even then, many people go on chemo + Avastin for a while following resection of liver tumors.

    I may be confused - but "liver mets" to me does not equate with "no tumor". As I understand it Avastin is used to keep those mets from growing into a big giant tumor.

    Katienavs - I am not trying to scare you - only letting you know that many (most?) Stage IV patients have Avastin treatment. Avastin + chemo has been very successful for me, but I am just one Stage IV patient.

    Take care and if you have any more questions, please ask.

    Betsy

    Hi... I really should have done a better job of describing my situation. The primary tumor was removed and I had a liver resection and all of the cancer in my liver was taken out. Also, the lymph nodes that had cancer in them were taken out. I had a CT scan two weeks ago and was NED.
    So my question is if other stage iv patients who have had successful surgeries to cut out all the cancer still receive avastin.
    Hope this makes sense!
    Thanks
  • NWmom
    NWmom Member Posts: 80
    #7
    katienavs said:

    Hi... I really should have done a better job of describing my situation. The primary tumor was removed and I had a liver resection and all of the cancer in my liver was taken out. Also, the lymph nodes that had cancer in them were taken out. I had a CT scan two weeks ago and was NED.
    So my question is if other stage iv patients who have had successful surgeries to cut out all the cancer still receive avastin.
    Hope this makes sense!
    Thanks

    Hi there,
    My husband is stage IV with mets to the liver and 12 out of 45 positive nodes. He had colon and liver resection along with removal of the nodes on Oct. 21st. He just received his first dose of Avastin with his second round of chemo on Dec. 27th. He has 2 oncologists that are collaborating with his case and they both said he should absolutely have the Avastin as they are going for cure and this drug would help with that. Neither of them had any question that he use Avastin. These are two doctors from different facilities and states.
    Heather
  • AveriRN
    AveriRN Member Posts: 61
    #8
    hi,I am also st4 with liver mets. After initial dx had colon resection,liver resection followed by radiation then and chemo. My first round with chemo was folfox6 (oxaliplatin, 5fu, leucovorin) then started on thalidomide (orally) as a preventive measure. After insurance would no longer pay for it I had reoccurrence within the liver so 2nd liver resection last jan followed by chemo of camptosar, avastin, and xeloda now I am solely on avastin for preventive measures. It does have the same anti-angiogenesis effect as thalidomide did and u do have an understanding that it prevents tumors from "growing" their blood supply but as I have been told so many times that even tho' my scans say NED I still have microscopic cancer cells floating around waiting to form into a tumor somewhere so therefore they have put me on Avastin "for a little while" to "indefinately" in hopes this will keep new "tumors" from growing. I hope this helps.

    Averi
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #9
    I'm about to start FOLFOX plus Avastin. My situation is I've just had a lung met surgically removed. This is my second time having a lung met (last time also successfully removed -- followed by 6 mos FOLFOX). The rationale given to me, like other, is that the Avastin might help eliminate any micromets still floating around out there.

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