HonCode

Go Back   HER2 Support Group Forums > her2group
Register Gallery FAQ Members List Calendar Today's Posts

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-02-2016, 09:50 PM   #1
NEDhelper
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 3
Laser Assisted Pulmonary Metastasectomy

Hi, Everyone -- I am helping a friend who appears to be a candidate for LAPM. (Stage IV, mets appear confined to lung interiors only.)

She's skittish and resistant to treatment of any sort, but will consider LAPM. She can travel for the treatment.

She would like to hear from any BC patients who have had the procedure. And ideally, talk to an oncologist who's prescribed around it (Personally, I would suspect/assume that medication approach wouldn't drastically differ from that for an MBC patient undergoing any similar surgery.)

Would anybody here know of anyone -- especially a patient?

Many, many thanks for reading :-)
NEDhelper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2016, 08:04 PM   #2
Mtngrl
Senior Member
 
Mtngrl's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 1,427
Re: Laser Assisted Pulmonary Metastasectomy

I know nothing about it, but I'm intrigued, because it seems possible I might be a candidate for that procedure at some point.

I hope your friend gets what she needs, both in terms of information and in terms of treatment.
__________________
Amy
_____________________________
4/19/11 Diagnosed invasive ductal carcinoma in left breast; 2.3 cm tumor, 1 axillary lymph node, weakly ER+, HER2+++
4/29/11 CT scan shows suspicious lesions on liver and lungs
5/17/11 liver biopsy
5/24/11 liver met confirmed--Stage IV at diagnosis
5/27/11 Begin weekly Taxol & Herceptin for 3 months (standard of care at the time of my DX)
7/18/11 Switch to weekly Abraxane & Herceptin due to Taxol allergy
8/29/11 CT scan shows no new lesions & old lesions shrinking
9/27/11 Finish Abraxane. Start Herceptin every 3 weeks. Begin taking Arimidex
10/17/11--Brain MRI--No Brain mets
12/5/11 PET scan--Almost NED
5/15/12 PET scan shows progression-breast/chest/spine (one vertebra)
5/22/12 Stop taking Arimidex; stay on Herceptin
6/11/12 Started Tykerb and Herceptin on clinical trial (w/no chemo)
9/24/12 CT scan--No new mets. Everything stable.
3/11/13 CT Scan--two small new possible mets and odd looking area in left lung getting larger.
4/2/13--Biopsy of suspicious area in lower left lung. Mets to lung confirmed.
4/30/13 Begin Kadcyla/TDM-1
8/16/13 PET scan "mixed," with some areas of increased uptake, but also some definite improvement, so I'll stay on TDM-1/Kadcyla.
11/11/13 Finally get hormone receptor results from lung biopsy of 4/2/13. My cancer is no longer ER positive.
11/13/13 PET scan mixed results again. We're calling it "stable." Problems breathing on exertion.
2/18/14 PET scan shows a new lesion and newly active lymph node in chest, other progression. Bye bye TDM-1.
2/28/14 Begin Herceptin/Perjeta every 3 weeks.
6/8/14 PET "mixed," with no new lesions, and everything but lower lungs improving. My breathing is better.
8/18/14 PET "mixed" again. Upper lungs & one spine met stable, lower lungs less FDG avid, original tumor more avid, one lymph node in mediastinum more avid.
9/1/14 Begin taking Xeloda one week on, one week off. Will also stay on Herceptin and Perjeta every three weeks.
12/11/14 PET Scan--no new lesions, and everything looks better than it did.
3/20/15 PET Scan--no new lesions, but lower lung lesions larger and a bit more avid.
4/13/15 Increasing Xeloda dose to 10 days on, one week off.
7/1/15 Scan "mixed" again, but suggests continuing progression. Stop Xeloda. Substitute Abraxane every 3 weeks starting 7/13.
10/28/15 PET scan shows dramatic improvement everywhere. All lesions except lower lungs have resolved; lower lungs noticeably improved.
12/18/15 Last Abraxane. Continue on Herceptin and Perjeta alone beginning 1/8/16.
1/27/16 PET scan shows cancer is stable.
5/11/16 PET scan shows uptake in some areas that were resolved on the last two scans.
6/3/16 Begin Kadcyla and Tykerb combination
6/5 - 6/23 Horrible diarrhea from K&T together. Got pneumonia.
7/15/16 Begin Kadcyla only every 3 weeks.
9/6/16 Begin radiation therapy on right lung lesion that caused the pneumonia.
10/3/16 Last of 12 radiation treatments to right lung.
11/4/16 Huffing and puffing, low O2, high heart rate, on tiniest bit of exertion. Diagnosed as radiation pneumonitis. Treated with Prednisone.
11/11/16 PET scan shows significant improvement to radiated part of right lung BUT a bunch of new lung lesions, and the bone met is getting worse.
11/22/16 Begin Eribulin and Herceptin. H every 3 weeks. E two weeks on, one week off.
3/6/17 Scan shows progression in lungs. Bone met a little better.
3/23/17 Lung biopsy. Tumor sampled is ER-, PR+ (5%), HER2+++. Getting Herceptin and Perjeta as a maintenance treatment.
5/31/17 Port placement
6/1/17 Start Navelbine & Tykerb
Mtngrl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2016, 07:41 AM   #3
Joan M
Senior Member
 
Joan M's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,851
Re: Laser Assisted Pulmonary Metastasectomy

I haven't exactly heard of this procedure. However, you may want to contact Dr. Steven Chmura at University of Chicago about a clinical trial that is using local procedures along with systemic therapy to treat oligometastatic breast cancer, or breast cancer that has limited metastatic spread (search under clinicaltrials.gov):

NCT02364557

For Canadian women, here's a similar clinical trial:

NCT01446744

I've been posting on this site since 2007 about the potential benefits of using local procedures along with systemic therapy to treat oligometastatic breast cancer.

I used both a lung wedge resection (or surgery) in 2007, and in 2008 radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the lung (or burning the tumor with radiofrequency waves), which is a very minimally invasive procedure. Oftentimes, these procedures can also be used if systemic therapy eliminates most of the tumors, such that only a few stubborn ones remain.

The idea of oligometastatic cancer is not new and was brought up many years ago by Dr. Samuel Hellman who is now professor emeritus at University of Chicago. Every year, AACR has a session on oligometastasis, and at ASCO this year, there was a session on treating advanced prostate cancer with local procedures.

However, there is never such a session at SABCS, as it seems that breast cancer oncologists are still holding out on recommending a combination of system and local therapy. But I was very happy that Dr. Jenny Chang, who is frequently a panelist on SABCS's hot topic sessions for advocates, was on this year's AACR panel. Yay!!! Go, Jenny!!

Joan
__________________
Diagnosed stage 2b in July 2003 (2.3 cm, HER2+, ER-/PR-, 7+ nodes). Treated with mastectomy (with immediate DIEP flap reconstruction), AC + T/Herceptin (off label). Cancer advanced to lung in Jan. 2007 (1 cm nodule). Started Herceptin every 3 weeks. Lung wedge resection April 2007. Cancer recurred in lung April 2008. RFA of lung in August 2008. 2nd annual brain MRI in Oct. 2008 discovered 2.6 cm cystic tumor in left frontal lobe. Craniotomy Oct. 2008 (ER-/PR-/HER2-) followed by targeted radiation (IMRT). Coughing up blood Feb. 2009. Thoractomy July 2009 to cut out fungal ball of common soil fungus (aspergillus) that grew in the RFA cavity (most likely inhaled while gardening). No cancer, only fungus. Removal of tiny melanoma from upper left arm, plus sentinel lymph node biopsy in Feb. 2016. Guardant Health liquid biopsy in Feb. 2016 showed mutations in 4 subtypes of TP53. Repeat of Guardant Health biopsy in Jana. 2021 showed 3 TP53 mutations, BRCA1 mutation and CHEK2 mutation. Invitae genetic testing showed negative for all of these. Living with MBC since 2007. Stopped Herceptin Hylecta (injection) treatment in March 2020. Recent 2021 annual CT of chest, abdomen and pelvis and annual brain MRI showed NED. Praying for NED forever!!
Joan M is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:34 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright HER2 Support Group 2007 - 2021
free webpage hit counter