Treatment plan adenocarcinoma - 1253922

lisams
Posts:2

Hi I am a 48year old female . I had surgery 8 months ago to remove an adenocarcinoma stage 1 in hard and soft palate. I received no radiation or chemo post surgery. 2 months ago I had a reoccurence in two lymph nodes. I just had a modified radical neck dissection and am awaiting healing to begin treatment. This time the oncology team is recommending radiation to both sides of neck and a 50/50 recommendation to radiate primary site. My question is that I have been told chemo is not effective on an adenocarcinoma where mine is located, is this accurate? I have seen on acs forums and your forums that chemo is being included in treatment plan. I am healthy otherwise and want the most aggressive treatment plan to stop the cancer.
I also understand my tumor can be sent to pathology for a "sensitivity" test to see which type of chemo would work best. Is this true and routinely done by oncology drs?
Thank you for your response.
Lisa

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Reply # - February 18, 2013, 01:41 PM

catdander
Posts:

I Lisa, Welcome to Grace, officially. I'm so sorry you've had to move to more aggressive treatment options.

I will be interested in knowing the answer to the sensitivity question. For lung cancer it's a definite no it doesn't help and could even point away from something that would work. Again that's lung cancer and I should learn more about other cancers.

I'll ask Dr. Weiss to comment on your questions. You should here back within the day.

Very best hopes to you,
Janine
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Reply # - February 18, 2013, 03:11 PM

dr. weiss
Posts: 206

The most common pathology of head/neck cancer is squamous cell, by far. Adenocarcinoma certainly happens, but it's rarer. In general, we highly recommend seeing a head/neck expert at a major cancer center for rarer cancers.

In general, there is effective chemotherapy against adenocarcinoma of the head/neck. Location is not a major predictor of chemosensitivity. Chemotherapy sensitivity testing is not standard of care. Our best data indicate that it does not effectively do what the name suggests--namely, accurately predicting which chemo will work.

Reply # - February 18, 2013, 04:16 PM

lisams
Posts: 2

Thank you Dr. Weiss. I am in the San Francisco area and will look into cancer centers. My cancer spread so quickly and I have read it is a difficult cancer to cure. I feel I need to be very thorough and aggressive with treatment. Any other suggestions you have are appreciated. Sincerely, Lisa

Reply # - February 19, 2013, 01:01 AM

certain spring
Posts: 762

Hang on in there, Lisa. California sounds a good place to be, and there may be other members here who have recommendations for hospitals with head and neck cancer specialists, who in turn may know about promising clinical trials. I'm sure you've already found your way to the head and neck section of GRACE:
http://cancergrace.org/hnscc/
When I was diagnosed a friend of my brother's (and a radiologist, as it happens), said: "Tell your sister to keep her spirit strong." It's very hard but I try to do that, and I wish the same for you.

Reply # - February 20, 2013, 02:34 PM

dr. weiss
Posts: 206

I'm not too familiar offhand with which head/neck experts are in your area, but I'd have to guess that both UCSF and Stanford have good experts. Further North, I personally collaborate with Renato Martins in Seattle, but I have to imagine that there are good docs at one of the closer academic medical centers that you could get an opinion from.

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