liver mets

[sally]

Hello, I just had a liver MRI to see if I have a reoccurance. My tumor markers are up and I have had liver mets in the past. They dissappeared after my first initial treatment. If They did come back what is the normal treatment. I originally had taxatere, carboplatin and herceptin. I am currently on Herceptin every three weeks. I was dx stage IV, 2.5 cm tumor, 8/16+ nodes and liver mets. Hopefully I get my results within the next couple of days. I just wanted to be prepared for the next step, just in case. Wish me luck, and any advice or input is very much appreciated. Thanks, Sally

[lisahammo]

Hi Sally

I was originally dx in 2003, then liver mets discovered in 2004. I was treated with Taxol/Herceptin for 6 months. When they began to act up again 6 months later, I was put onto Taxol/Herceptin/Carbo for 8 months on and off. The Carbo really played up with me. So, I would imagine, seeing it worked the first time, they would put you onto the same treatment again.

Good luck

Lisa

[al from Canada]

Dear Sally.

Navelbine with or without xeloda has been very successful with liver mets, with herceptin of course. Maintenance xeloda and herceptin also works well.
Good luck,
Al

[jessica]

Ugh!I'm so sorry- Liver mets...I know/knew them well! I was dx'd w/liver mets @my primary dx in 2002. I was NED for a year on 2 occassions, but a single liver met kept recurring, so I finally had a liver resection last December, since I was NED every where else. So far so good...!

My very first combo was Navelbine+Herceptin, but I progressed on that combo, so we abandoned that & moved on to Taxol+Hercep/qweekly.
My disease was very sensitive to TH - "melting away" my disease as my onc says-from "innumerable, immeasureable lesions" to NED in 13 weeks. After one recurrence of the single met, just 4 weeks of TH srunk the met to undetectable by PET.
I did try ABRAXANE+Herceptin at one point, but it was ineffective-no response-so we moved on to Taxol+Carbo+Hercep. It did the trick, but was much harder for me than just TH.
In my case, I didn't progress while on chemo, but recurred in the absence of chemo. The Hepatectomy was our shot at a "cure" for the liver.

It is such hard decision to make, stick w/what you know was effective or switch treatment, & all the unknowns. We are all so different in how we respond to different combos. One person's magic bullet might be very different from someone else.

Hang in there. Keep us posted. And Keep the Faith~

ps-yet another option to consider: the EAP Tykerb+Capecitibine trial

[Rupali]

You should take 1000mg Curcumin and an AYurvedic medicine called as Guggul. These have very beneficial effects for the liver.

[Tessa]

I believe that Guggul is also known as /is similar too Boswellia serrata, which has been discussed as an anti-inflammatory, and useful for liver mets, elsewhere on this site.

[heblaj01]

Both Boswellia Serrata & Guggul have been found to interfere with the major CPY 3A4 enzyme (of the P450 family) which is necessary for the metabolism of several chemo drugs.
So taking one of these supplements concurrently with chemo may reduce the chemo effectiveness &/or increase its side effects.
This does not necessarely mean the supplements should be disregarded in all cases but it means care must be taken as to when & how to use them.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041002/food.asp
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Citation

[Rupali]

You should take Guggul with Triphala or a combination of Guggul with some other recommended ayurvedic combinations.