Carcinosarcoma treatments?

[KristinS]

My 67 year old mother was just diagnosed with
ovarian carcinosarcoma (apparently very rare - about
1% of ovarian cancers). She had an "optimal
resection" of the tumor 4 weeks ago, they removed
everything visible. She is stage 3b, otherwise very
healthy. We have a couple of weeks to explore
options for treatment and are just beginning our
research. The options her oncologist laid out were:

1 - IV chemotherapy w/drugs traditionally used for
ovarian cancer

2 - IV chemo w/more aggressive drug combination

3 - IP chemo (directly into the abdominal cavity);
She had a port for this inserted during surgery, but
the oncologist seems to be steering us away from
this option as too invasive and no clear benefits
documented for this type of ovarian cancer (mostly
because there are so few cases).

4 - no chemotherapy.

Any advice or recommendations would be most welcome!

[Amaris]

Are you in the states? Alot of people I've met on here are in Canada or overseas & their healthcare system is different than in the US. I would definitly look into every possible option, maybe Clinical trials. Try to get in touch with any large local cancer hospitals like MD Anderson. My mother had Carcinosarcona Ovarian cancer (mmmt) She was diagnosed in September 06' after she had a full Hysterectomy along with pieces of her liver, spleen & a diaphram removed. They also installed a port in her stomach during the surgery for the chemo treatment. She had it through IV & her abdominal port. Unfortunitly the tumors were just combating the chemo the whole way through & once she was done with her treatments they came back & by then she was too weak to fight it off. She passed away @ 42 in January. We didn't know the type of ovarian cancer she had until the month she passed, I'm not sure if she kept it from us or if she just didn't fully understand how agressive this cancer is. Either way I know that I would have looked into alternatives along with the chemo if I had known from the begining what we were dealing with. There are people who live through this, the problem is that it's so rare that many doctors don't know any other way of treating it. I will pray for you & your mother, please let me know what you find out. God Bless!

[stephers]

Hi there, I am sorry about your moms dx, I too have ovarian carcinosarcoma I was diagnosed March 06 at age 26. My treatment has taken the following path:
-March 06 sugery
-May 06-Oct 06 9 rounds of TAXOL/ CARBO. This was fairly successful in that it cleared up tumors that had spead to the lungs & liver as well as some lymph tissue, unfortunatly by the ninth treatment a new tumor had grown in a lymph node which indicated that I was resistant to the chemo now
-Dec 06 2nd surgery to remove the tumor
Jan 07 - Mar 07  3 treatments Doxil or in Canada we call it Caelyx. I had skin reactions to this drug and well my tumor grew alot according to a ct scan therefore they decided it was not working. However I had a scan 1 month after discontinuing this treatment and the tumors actually have shrunk...
May 07 - Started Ifosfimide and Cisplatin

Regardless of the treatments and hairloss I had a good year still. . So my advice would be to try something. I would not go no treatment. Who knows one of these drugs just might work. I was told I had two months a year ago. And in this year I seen my precious little nephew grow from infants to walking and talking. If you look back a girl named MISSYM wrote that her mother has carcinosarcoma and I believe achieved remission. That stats are horrible, however with such a rare cancer I think there is a lack of stats all together to form an hypothesis. Anyhow hang in there, I hope all goes well for you.

I would like to mention that carcinosarcoma seems to be popping up more and more on this site, I am going to look into getting a site specifically geared towards this rare disease.
I'll PRAY FOR YOU

[shaneekirk]

Hi, all!

My mother also developed MMMT in January of 2005.  Similar to one of your stories, she was at Stage 4, inoperable (since the cancer was covering most of her liver -- spotted like a leapord).  The outlook wasn't good.

However, we were fortunate enough to find a wonderful Dr. here in Houston, TX.  Dr. Fromm.  My mom received about 12 chemo treatments (which she handled really well), and then Dr. Fromm decided that everything had improved enough for surgery (the cancer on the liver fully cleared on its own).  She was in remission from January of 2006 to just recently.

She had a very small recurrance, and just went under her 2nd surgery on Monday (yesterday).  The Dr. expects that she got all of the cancer, so she will be in a "technical" remission (bassed on CA-125 counts) when she recovers from surgery.  She's going to have 3-6 chemo treatments anyway though.

My mom may be one of the "lucky" ones, but I think that Dr. Fromm is wonderful too.  You may want to Google for her.  Dr. Geri Fromm - http://www.houstongynonc.com/practitioners.asp

Good luck with your mom!  You really need to move fast on this one!

Also note that this type of cancer is NOT curable.  Remission can be achieved, but it unfortunatley is not permanent.  Close monitoring after remission is essential to be able to find the return of cancer quickly.  Let me know if you have questions on this one.

Shanee

[nodie]

I found your post helpful and informative -I was diagnosed at 49 in jan 07 have had surgery -removal of tumours and hysterectomy and chemo-6 cycles ofepirubicin and carboplatin -feel well at present -glad I have lived this long!! I have just found out I have an alteration to my brca 2 gene-my sisters and daughters are all to be tested -we all hope that I am the odd one who has been very unlucky

[MNP72]

How old is your mom and what type of chemo did the doctor use with her? Congrats on her great news!
If anyone else has any updates or new procedures/chemo please share!
My mom has been battling this for 3 years and I'm searching for anything that would help with her fight that she hasn't already tried.
God Bless,
MNP72

[Helmar]

Hi Kristin... I'm just curious as to what Option 2 is... "IV with moe aggression drug combination".... what were the drugs, do you know? I would be interested to hear. I hope  your Mum responds to the chemo, and goes into a long remission. Thinking of you and your Mum.... hugs....Helen...

[MNP72]

Hey Helen,
I just wanted to touch base with you because it doesn't look like anyone else has responded lately.  Are you going through treatment or is it someone you know? My mom has this cancer. She was diagnosed with stage 4 in 2005. She has done fairly well with her battle but is going through a bit of a rough patch right now. The doctor is trying a new chemo on her today. We are hoping she will respond to it. What treatments have you (your doctor) used? I look forward to hearing from you.
Take care, Michele

[Helmar]

Hi Michele... It's KristinS' Mum who has ovarian