How long does it take to know if a treatment is working?

[Rich66]

How long does it take to know if a treatment is working? One onc seems to think Taxol wasn't working when her bilirubin went up and scans just a few days after infusion showed progression over scans done 3 weeks prior.
In the hospital sh ewound up in lately, a CT scan was done but this onc thought it would take weeks to know if it was working.

[Colleens_Husband]

Colleen had noticeable shrinkage of her tumor after three weeks of TAC. The tumor couldn't be felt after nine weeks. With that being said, every tumor is different and I don't think timetables are realistic. Some tumors take longer to dissolve than others and some never do.

[chrisy]

Rich,

How many infusions has mom had? Just the one?

It sounds like she had a scan 3 weeks prior to treatment, then one a few days after. If that showed progression, it would seem more likely to be showing growth in the interval between the initial scan and the treatment than results after 3 days.

It can take some time for scans to reflect what is going on and, as Lee says, it is going to be different in each individual case. On a CT scan, the lesion can stay the same size even when the chemo is working as the scan can't differentiate well between "live" and "dead" tumors.

Changes in liver functions as well as tumor markers are also not definitive - if they go up it could be treatment related or in the case of tumor markers, could even indicate the chemo is working. So "up" is not necessarily related to cancer progression. But I would think "down" is a good sign.

So, I agree it can take time to know what's going on. I'm curious however on what the new CT showed compared to the one 3 days after.

I still think the top priority is to gain control over her symptoms, whether they are being caused by the treatment or the disease. Watching your mom suffer as she is currently must be unbearable - just as the thought of losing her is unthinkable. She needs both the physical resources and the will to continue; managing the symptoms is key to both.

Much love
Chris