The news was somewhat disheartening, but...
The doctor (Dr. W) shared the radiologist’s report of the CT scan with us. It seems the chemo has somewhat slowed the growth of the mets in his lungs, most remaining unchanged. The hope was that they would not just stop growing, but rather reduce in size. He noted that two of the approximately ten, are larger than in the previous scan, done in January after the conclusion of Pete’s radiation treatments. In one there was significant growth going from 6.6 cm x 2.4 cm to 7.7 cm x 6.4 cm. To give a clearer picture to the "metrically-challenged" among us, 2.5 in x 1 in to 3 in x 2.5 in. The second had only “marginal” increase, going from 4.5 cm x 4.5 cm to 5.6 cm x 5.3 cm (or 1.75 in x 1.75 in to 2.2 in x 2.0 in).
Because of the absence of definitive results, Dr. W recommended the chemo be suspended, including the Rapamune (Sirolimus), pending consultation with Pete’s primary oncologist at MSKCC (Dr. K). He will hopefully be able to discuss this with her sometime today so that, if she determines that Pete should continue the chemo, he’ll only shift treatment by a day, rescheduling it for tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.
Dr. W explained that Dr. K may have a clinical trial that Pete might be eligible to enter. If so, he would have to go a specified time period without treatment. He also mused about the possibility of having Pete go in for a PET scan. There seems to be some question among oncologists as to the role this type of scan plays in assessing the response of sarcoma to treatment.
I've included a link to a fairly recent document discussing PET vs CT scans:
Functional imaging proves sensitive in measuring treatment response in sarcomas
So once again, we are in the "waiting" mode. It's not one of which I am particularly fond these days.
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