PEI For recurrence as opposed to surgery?

[JoanFowler]

Is Percutaneous Ethanol Injections an accepted treatment for Recurrence of Pap Carcinoma appearing in lymph nodes.

I have what looks like a recurrence of Papillary Carcinoma, originally thought to be cured by TT and RAI. (I'll spare you the details, but I'm thinking this will be confirmed by U of Penn this week.)

I've come across information about PEI, and since I've learned to trust your opinion so much over the last year of reading these boards, wondered if you are familiar with it, if you've used it on patients, etc.

I'd like to avoid surgery or RAI again if possible.

[amela321]

I'm not the doctor, of course, but as far as I know PEI is not generally being used for pap thyca recurrences.  I have recently had a recurrence myself and ended up with surgery to remove the tumor and 5 lymph nodes (tumor and one lymph node positive) and am scheduled for RAI August 4th.  

Good luck to you!

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

Talk to U Penn (and tell them hello) about this option - the first choice for a clinically significant LN recurrence is usually surgery.  However in the case of a patient who is not a good surgical candidate and has a LN that may cause local symptoms, PEI is a palliative (not curative) alternative.  Most experience in the United States is at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

So, if it is a positive LN >1cm, they will likely consider neck dissection as the treatment of choice...

let me know what they say