Last month, my husband, Dan had successful thermal ablation of 3 lesions on his left lung. This month, because 5 new lung lesions have developed, his ablation procedure (to have lesions on the right lung removed) has been cancelled. He is no longer a candidate for thermal ablation due to the number of lesions found on his lungs. We will meet with his oncologist at Sloan Kettering tomorrow to discuss treatment options (if any). With that said, Dan is trying to become a candidate for some sort of T-cell clinical trial being offered at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Preliminary test results were in his favor but there are many more to go. Any feedback or information on this T-cell "vaccine" would be greatly appreciated. I know very little about it.....
Hi Jeanne,
My son is being treated in Bethesda as well at the NIH National Cancer Institute.
Not sure who the doctor is that you are seeing there, but my son is seeing Dr. Shrump. This is the protocol that he participating in:
Adjuvant Allogeneic Tumor Cell Vaccine with Metronomic Oral Cyclophosphamide and Celecoxib in Patients Undergoing Resection of Sarcomas, Melanomas, Germ Cell Tumors, or Epithelial Malignancies Metastatic to Lungs, Pleura, or Mediastinum
He just completed having a double thoracotomy surgery on May 31st to remove one nodule from each lung. He did very well & today he started his meds for the vaccine trial that he is part of. He will receive his first dose of the trial vaccination next Wednesday.
My son Corey was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma back in October of 2010 (he was 20 years old). He had 3 rounds of chemo (he was an inpatient for 4 days each round to receive the doxarubicin & ifosfamide around the clock during that time), then had surgery to remove his tumor (located in his right latissimus muscle - it was very large), then had 3 more rounds of chemo followed by 8 weeks of radiation. At the 2 year mark, in October of 2012, they found the nodules in his lungs. They were very small & by April they had both grown to 1cm & his doctors decided to remove them.
We live in the area & feel very fortunate with all of the medical choices that we have available. I hope that everything goes well for your husband, please feel free to chat with me anytime.
I have very rarely commented on here - mostly I just read & even with that said, I can only do that in small doses, because it can be very overwhelming. We are a very optimistic family by nature & try not to get too involved with all of the statistical information, as we know there is always someone who ends up beating the odds, instead we try to focus our time & energy on the here & now & remain positive while we keep moving forward. God Bless!
Dear mylhunt....Thank you so much for your response! My husband does not have a specific doctor yet as we are waiting for biopsy analysis to determine that he is, in fact, eligible for the clinical trial. So that's what I am praying for this week. If it's ok with you, if Dan is deemed eligible to go down to Bethesda, I may contact you directly (from this site) to ask a question or two....??
Absolutely!! We'll say prayers for Dan as well!
I wish you the Best for the HLA typing to get into this trial. My husband tried and was not accepted because he did not have the proper sequence. His Oncologist highly recommended this trial as the vaccine somehow changes/boosts the immune system to help fight the tumor. He said it was initially used for leukemia but has been found to be positive in some situations for SS patients. Good Luck:)