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My daughter has Stage IV colon cancer

luckyg
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My daughter who is 50 has stage IV colon cancer with multiple liver mets.  Several liver surgeons have told her the mets in her liver are inoperable as there are too many, we still do not know just how many there are! She has responded really well to Folfiri plus Cetuximab which she has received fortnightly since early July.  The mets have shrunk some 80/90% and her cancer markers are down to a normal number of 3.9.  Her team have offered no other treatments to further eradicate the mets. other than to stay on her drug regime.  We have researched the nanoknife and wonder if anyone out there has received beneficial treatment by undergoing this procedure, which appears to be ideal for small tumours. 

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    Hello sorry to hear about your daughter. I haven't had nano knife but I have had RFA. Is that an option for your daughter. I had 2 spots ablated from my liver a couple of months ago. One spot has completely disappeared. The other is still there but hasn't grown.I think RFA is only suitable for smaller tumours. 

     

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    Hi luckyg ....  I am so sorry to hear about your daughter's diagnosis - what a terrible worry for you all.  I have had nanoknife treatment on liver tumours. Three the first time and two the second.  The Professor who carried them out is lovely and will give you his opinion if he has a recent scan to look at.  I believe that tumours of 3cm or under are the ideal.  Another lady I know had 7 tumours in her liver and the Prof heat-ablated 4 and Nanoknifed 3.  Heat ablation is very safe too - Nanoknife is used where tumours are on or near a vein (because it doesnt damage them like the heat would).  I guess another option is to have a liver resection if there are sections of the liver that are cancer-free.

    It does sound worrying that several surgeons have declined ablation because of the number of tumours.  You really need to ask the extent of disease and maybe for a copy of the latest CT scan so you can ask for other opinions. I will also say that Nanoknife is not available on the NHS and can only be done privately so there is a substantial cost involved.  I also have to say that your daughter's response to chemotherapy sounds fantastic and really encouraging!!

    If I can be of any more help - please shout!  Good luck x

  • Offline in reply to max56

    Thank you for your lovely reply.  My daughter unfortunately has been turned down for the nanoknife and radiofreq.ablation.  We are just left with chemo at the moment, which we believe will shortly change to second line treatment i.e. Folfox but still continuing Cetuximab.  We are so concerned re the Oxiliplatin as it will most likely cause nerve damage (and she has been so sporty.) Her first line treatment FOLFIRI is now not working so well - markers CEA now 50 and were 4 last November.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  There is a possibility she may have the SIRT Beads, but we think we will have to push for this.  There seem to be so many options out there, some of which we are prepared to pay for, but when we approach the professionals, we are declined, which leads us to the conclusion all is rather hopeless.  What a blow in July 2014 she received her ph.d. in sports sciences and had her whole career ahead of her, in March 2015 we received her diagnosis.  However, we plod on hoping for a miracle.

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