• Registered: Sun, 22 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 52

Topic: Theraspere Treatment / Progen PI-88 ?

Hello

My dad was diagnosed with Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma on March 22 of this year.  He is 64 years old and in pretty good shape. Billiruben was 2.8 and rose to 4.2 in a month. His tumor size is 10 by 13 cm. Can't cut it out due to its location. They said he may be able to have the Theraspere Treatment but it's not yet approved for his type. Maybe he got the information wrong or something because I thought I read that it was being offered in the US already.
Can anyone tell me who is currently offering this treatment today?

Also this may be a stupid question but has anyone read about Progens PI-88? Maybe this is not for Cholangiocarcinoma type cancer.

Thanks for any help.

Tom

  • Registered: Thu, 16 Nov 2006
  • Posts: 171

Re: Theraspere Treatment / Progen PI-88 ?

Hi Tom,

Here's a listing of treatment centers for Theraspheres, http://www.nordion.com/therasphere/map/ … rentpage=5

Good luck,

G

  • Registered: Sun, 22 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 52

Re: Theraspere Treatment / Progen PI-88 ?

Thanks G

My dads tumor marker was 440 2 weeks ago and now it is 612 today. Billiruben was 3.8 and now it is 4.7.
Mayo is trying to get some sort of ok to administer this stuff asap.

Thanks Again

  • Registered: Fri, 23 Feb 2007
  • Posts: 10

Re: Theraspere Treatment / Progen PI-88 ?

My husband has intraheptic with about the same mass.  He received approval for the treatment by AETNA and had half the treatment done two weeks ago at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver Colorado.  You might contact UCH Interventional Radiology at 303-372-6130 to see how they got it approved, it was approved very quickly.  I can't tell you yet if it has helped or not, I can tell you it made my husband very sick for the first two weeks, and he's still unable to eat as he did before and definately is very weak and fatigued but they tell you that will happen.  I'll let you know how he progresses, at first blush I almost wish he hadn't had the treatment because he suffered a lot with it, but if it ends up in the long run making him feel better then I guess it was worth it.

  • Registered: Sun, 22 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 52

Re: Theraspere Treatment / Progen PI-88 ?

I guess Mayo is going thru with the Theraspere when his B.R. count drops to 2.0.  He had a stent put in 3 days ago and the doctor said it should get things flowing the way it should.
My dad is on some diet which has improved some of his liver functions.  I will find out exactly what he is eating and post the info here. We have before and after tests to compare.
I will post good or bad progress my dad makes thru this so it may help some of you.

Thanks

Tom

  • Registered: Tue, 26 Dec 2006
  • Posts: 40

Re: Theraspere Treatment / Progen PI-88 ?

I would also look outside of the "Therasphere" brand name. The protocol is called radioemboilization and brachytherapy. They also refer to "microsperes" or "nanospheres". At a recent summit on this treatment the leaders in the field prepared a standard for the use of these in treatment of gastrointestinal cancers and seemed to indicate that there may be big differences in the quality of application. Bad side-effects were attributed to centers applying the protocol in a haphazard way. Mayo Clinic and MD Anderson would of course be very good but I'd research the facility before undergoing treatnment. As I said in an earlier post, my conclusion was that Dr. Andrew Kennedy had sort of written the book on this resaerch and so he is my choice for my wife's BDC. The liver studies he did were really impressive in terms of survival.