customized chemo

[stephers]

I was wondering if anyone had a part of their tumor taken out and then had chemo tested on it to see what kind of chemo would respond to their type of cancer. If so what kind of success have you had with it? Also, I am wondering if anyone is being treated at the Cancer Centers of America and if they have been offered vaccine theropy?

[Joyce2]

I had a piece of my tumor sent to Oncotech lab in CA where they tested various chemotherapies.  They had five drugs they tried against my tumor. The ones that worked the best and listed first were Carpoplatin/taxol and then cisplatin/gemcitabine.  Unfortunately the chemo's so ruined my bone marrow that I am no longer able to make enough platelets to have any further chemo. Next on the list was to have been Taxotere.  It is expensive, I think they charged my insurance over $2,000 for this testing.  It was worthwhile because it kept me from trying chemo's like Doxil that would not have worked at all.  This spared me side effects from ineffective chemo's.  It is worth looking into.

[Helmar]

I have heard that having an assay done on your tumour to discover what chemos would work, and what would not work is not 100% accurate, as apparently being tested in a Lab. environment, is different to being tested on a living person. I suppose some of the time it can be o.k. but maybe others it won't be.... and from what I've gathered, it's not cheap to have this done. I guess if it was a 'tried and true' test, it would be recommended to every woman having the debalking operation.
If it works... great. It certainly would save a lot of hassles with other stuff that doesn't work.
Best wishes everyone...Helmar..

[freshair]

Dr. Goodman has a few posts on it in the Doctor forum. If you are having surgery why not try it. Sounds like a good idea to me. What I am finding on the subject is that what works in the petri dish may not hold true with how your whole body is going to react to it. I kind of feel also that it is an insurance issue, too. It's just not fair that they don't have really reliable chemo sensitivity tests. That's always been an issue with me.

[orangefuzzball]

I've had a quick look and I haven't come across anyone that has used them personally, I'll keep looking and see if I come across anyone that has mostly it's just anecdotal. I think you have to be off chemo for quite a while for them to be able to do a biopsy and it doesn't seem to be covered by insurance.

Dr. Nagourney is the oncologist at Rational Therapeutics - Providing Intelligent Cancer Therapies, I've copied and pasted so the link might not work
http://www.rationaltherapeutics.com/

There is a similar place in the UK:

Professor Ian A Cree
Translational Oncology Research Centre
Queen Alexandra Hospital
Portsmouth PO6 3LY
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: ian.***@****

I'll post any other info if I find it,

Lisa

[Conquerer]

After surgery my tumor was tested  It did not respond to taxol but did to taxatere the sister chemo and cisplatin.  I had IV and IP  My CA 125 went down fast with each treatment and I do not believe that the case if my doctor just went with a standard protecal..  My CA125 after my last treatment was at 1.4  my doctor said that clinically I was cancer free.  Only time will tell if it wages its ugley face.  Also because I am estrogen recetive and have a BRACA 1 amino acid truncated I will be on tamoxifene when I come home from my retreat.

There are tests out there, but some doctors don't do it because of insureance.

Hope this helps in some way

god bless all

[orangefuzzball]

Becky, a few of the posters on my PMP forum have either considered having it done or had it done. I'll go and have a look and let you know where it's done. And any other info I can find.
Lisa.

[SimplyStar]

Really would like to learn more about this. Any info gathered will be appreciated.  If in a recurrance a couple of small lesions are found on the abdominal wall, would they do surgery to try and remove them, test the tissue and then get the correct chemo.  This makes a great deal of sense to me. I told Leslee to ask the surgeon if he did do surgery again what he thought about doing a ginger wash of the abdominal cavity instead of saline or water.  Also told her to ask about the Vit C infusions,  I know it sounds like I am grabbing at straws, but if  a new theory works,  I am all for it.  Have to prove that timeline they gave her is wrong.

[alanpvegas]

CTCA is supposed to be doing the vaccine this summer.  
First on the vaccine....there is also a similar one being tested in Australia.  The thing is, I don't think *anyone* has ever had a complete clinical response with any of them (that means, if i remember correctly, a 50% size reduction in tumor).

Next the testing of tumors to customize chemo...you are right, it exists.  They of course do this for the vaccine, but it has been tested also to see if they can see what chemo will work and won't work.  The problem is, it's never guaranteed...that is why it has not taken hold yet.  The OvCa mutates so the original tested may not be the same by the time chemo starts or even after.  

That being said, they have identified WHAT makes ovca platinum resistant...but there is no standardized test yet.

You can get it tested all you want, but any insurance will not pay for it (yet) as it's not FDA approved.  Try googling for the clinical trials or colleges/labs doing this type of research to see if you can get in!

[nyc lady]

I believe that they can test the tumors to see if they are platninum resistant as well as estrogen receptive.  I don't know if they can test for anything else.  It would be great to be able to test the tumor to see which chemo would work...maybe one day!!!!

[Tybear]

Does that even exist? Because if so, sign me up... I've often wondered why they can't just tailor chemo to your specific type of tumor...it makes sense. If they have all these drugs available and tumor samples, why not put the two together and see which one works best? *sigh* sounds so easy....there must be something I don't know.
How are things going with you, Stephers?
Becky