Signet cell carsinoma.

usakat said:

Hello Vilma
So sorry to hear of your husband's struggle, Vilma.

I was misdiagnosed with signet ring cell carcinoma of the stomach last August, after a bout with Stage III colon cancer. As it turned out I have what is called pseudo-signet ring cells in my stomach - they look like signet ring cell cancer, but are not malignant. I have EGDs every three months to monitor the situation. All my biopsies are sent to Mayo Clinic for review by a stomach/signet ring cell cancer expert.

Signet ring cell cancer is tough - it's extremely rare - so finding other folks with similar circumstances can be quite difficult. Perhaps you might also post your inquiry on the Stomach Cancer and Rare Cancer boards her at CSN.

Is your husband being treated at a major cancer center? If not, I would strongly encourage you to seek second or more opionions from larger cancer centers. You can do a Google search for "Best Cancer Hospitals in...." - insert the name of your city/state. Also, you can request that your husband's oncologist and pathologists refer/send any biopsies or tumor samples to Mayo Clinic if you are here in the US.

If there is anything else I can think of I will post again - otherwise, give those two other boards here a try too.

Will be keeping you and your husband in my thoughts and prayers.

Katie

usakat said:

Signet Ring Cell and PET Scans
I was told during my diagnostic stage last August that Signet Ring Cells can often produce false negative PET scans. The reason is because of the way that signet ring cells grow - they tend to spread within the layers of normal cells rather than form large tumors, although I very well might be misinformed about this - it was a tough time for me.

There is a Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville - perhaps you and your husband might want to think about going there for a consult. Perhaps it might be worth at least a phone call...

Check them out:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/jacksonville/

Regards,
Katie

usakat said:

Sorry, Vilma, but my advice
Sorry, Vilma, but my advice to call Mayo is merely a suggestion, not necessarily a recommendation. I suggest an inquiry to Mayo because of the reputation they have for working with patients with rare cancers, and based on my own experience, they were the ones who corrected my diagnosis from signet ring cell stomach cancer to pseudo-signet ring gastric cells, which ultimately saved my stomach from being removed.

I cannot know if Mayo can help you or not, but it just seems to me that it might be worth the time of a phone call for you to chat with one of their patient coordinators at their cancer center.

Because of the nature of your husband's rare cancer, your best bet is to seek medical advice from medical doctors - seeking multiple opionions can often times be beneficial to the patient. Here at CSN we can offer you empathy, emotional support and friendship.

Good luck, Vilma...

polarprincess said:

hi
hi i just wanted to let you know that there are also some people over the colon club with the signet cell colon cancer... http://www.colonclub.com