you mentioned you were in remission for 7 months...did the cancer come back?
Summer
Hipec sounds like what a friend's sister had done. She had a rare form of cancer, I can't remember the name but it had metastasized to several organs including her ovaries. During the 10 hour surgery to remove the cancer they gave her a 90 minute "chemo bath" throughout her abdomen and pelvic area. Hers was performed in July 09 at MD Anderson and I think she is doing pretty well. She had a long recovery but I think that was related to they type of cancer and length of surgery.
Good luck.
thats interesting my oncologist studied in boston also- he's a young m,d from that area - thanks again
thank you for the ingotmation yjis is my first recurrence- i had surgury in jan of 2009 after 5 taxol carbo treatments and 5 after the surg - it was a radical hysterectomy , debulking surg and then i have had almost a year before the ca125 shot up - it had stayed at 14 then shot up to 33, and they found 2 areas on the ct scan, i'm now on doxil - they want to see if they can get the #'s down -thank you for your information- i'll talk to my oncologist about it again- thank you very much
I had it done in 2007 as one of the first OvCa patients in the Boston area; my surgeon pioneered the procedure when he was in Pittsburgh. It worked very well for me: I was on my first recurrence and had a major debulking with bowel resection and concurrent HIPEC. Subsequent Carbo/Gemzar treatment (after my bowel had healed) for six cycles kept me in remission for seven months.
The surgery and procedure can be very difficult: mine lasted eleven (!) hours and my surgical oncologist likened the recovery to that after a liver transplant. I was young (35) and very strong and healthy at the time, and seeking the most aggressive treatment possible, so I was an ideal candidate.
Cancer cells die more easily at temperatures above 140o F, whereas normal cells are not weakened at that high temperature. Thus heated chemo is more toxic to the cancer cells that float loose in the peritoneal cavity and get "stuck in the corners" and along the diaphragm, and less toxic to healthy body cells.
The first thing to do is find a surgeon who performs the procedure and get an appointment with them to see if you are a candidate. I think it is well worth the effort if you are in the right place in your treatment/disease process.
Let me know how it turns out -
Sarah
i found the information about this on this web site,
http://www.hipectreatment.com/documents/howitworks.php?gclid=CN-W4bvYlKACFQkcawodRUCidw