[Cathya]

Sherry;

In looking around I found an interesting story about a woman colon cancer patient with mets to the liver. She pushed very hard for surgery and had 65 to 70% of her liver removed in an 11 hour operation....wow. Following the operation she was put on Xeloda. Later she went back for follow up and to remove additional tumors but had too much scar tissue for surgery. She is now on Avastin. (I keep hearing about Avastin.....is this something you've looked at?). I found the following comments by the onc interesting....

Patients with liver metastases should be their own advocates, says leading colon cancer oncologist and researcher Dr. Richard Goldberg, of the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. According to Dr. Goldberg, liver resection for patients with advanced colorectal cancer is underused. Dr. Goldberg believes that patients should ask about the possibility of resection or radiofrequency ablation. If necessary, he recommends seeking a second or third opinion from larger cancer centers where surgery of this sort is routinely performed. If patients initially encounter physicians who aren’t receptive to the idea of resection, Dr. Goldberg advises that they consult a gastrointestinal (GI) oncology specialist or a surgeon who specializes in liver surgery in either an academic center or comprehensive cancer center.

Cathy