need opinion -- Avistin and Parp

• By hr
• Posted January 8, 2009 at 6:07 pm
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Thank you so much for the suggestions. I emailed the oncologist who is now saying that he wants to keep her on the 3-month chemo boost (Carbo/Gemzar) even though her platelets keep bottoming out. they are going to lower the dosage. I never knew of the cooling/heating of tumors - I will keep that in mind. Thanks!!

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• By Shearaw
• Posted January 8, 2009 at 12:36 pm
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I was on Avastin +Carboplatin+Taxol for 7 cycles. Then Avastin alone for another year. The most common side effects of the Avastin are high BP and headaches, which I also experienced. Also, because Avastin weakens blood vessels, easy bruising with slow healing is another side effect. The rarest side effects are stroke and bowel perforation. These are very serious complications. For me, diagnosed with stage IV and sub-optimal debulking, I felt that taking those risks might be the only chance to get rid of the tumors that were unable to be removed by surgery. Only your sister can weigh whether the risks are worth the benefits.

If your sister has only the single small spot in an organ, it might be worth asking the oncologist if there are any other viable alternatives, such as a confirming PET scan, cryo-ablation (kills by cooling small tumors) or RF ablation (kills by heating small tumors)

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• By Laniphil54
• Posted January 7, 2009 at 8:26 pm
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http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/clinicaltrials/index.cfm

Dr. Deborah Armstrong at Johns Hopkins spoke at a Life with Cancer meeting in Sept 08 - this is her specialty she and her team are very respected. The link above has the different trial by phase and you could probably email them questions. Good luck. Lani

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• By jillian4444
• Posted January 7, 2009 at 10:18 am
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My sister is beng treated with avastin and doxil for recurrent OVCA stage 3C.The avastin has been very effective in lowering her CA125 count from 4000 to 215.Theside effects from avastin were very high blood pressure causing awful headaches and eye pressure for 2 months.It took 5 blood pressure meds over 2 months to finally lower her pressure.She wasn't able to have avastin or doxil during that 2 month period.Finally she is taking a much less dosage of avastin,without the doxil,every 2weeks instead of every 3
weeks.Her counts haven't lowered since the regiman of the original higher dosage of avasin and doxil were used.they are scared to increase the dosage because of the high blood pressure it caused.
Hope this is helpful info.Good luck.

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