jasper
![]()
Posts:1
I had part of my left lung removed in 2006 followed by chemo, the rest of the lung removed in 2009, radiation and chemo in 2011 and started chemo again in October of 2012 with \"pemetrexed\", treatments every 3 weeks. I\'ve started to have serious pain always in areas where I had some treatment before, behind my collarbone where I had radiation( sore skin and internal), in my back where I had an incision and my left rib cage where the lung was removed. The pain I\'m worried about is internal.
Could the pain be a reaction to the chemo?
jasper
Forums
Reply # - February 22, 2013, 01:21 PM
Reply To: chemo reaction
It's possible to get a reaction called "radiation recall" from some form of chemotherapy. When this happens, an area that was radiated in the past becomes inflamed when someone gets chemotherapy. That's described with gemcitabine and some other chemotherapies, but it's pretty rare, and I've never seen or heard of this with Alimta (pemetrexed). I suppose it's possible.
However, I don't know of a mechanism for someone to develop pain at the site of prior surgery from the chemotherapy. It's really hard for me to figure out how to tie it all together.
Good luck.
-Dr. West
Reply # - February 25, 2013, 03:33 AM
Reply To: chemo reaction
The phenomenon of pain at previously radiated sites is consistent with radiation recall; however, as chemo goes, alimta isn't a big offender. As Dr. West notes, it's also not typical after surgery--recall is really a pretty radiation restricted phenomenon. An other possibility for pain at previously treated sites is the cancer itself. You know that it was there once before, so it's entirely possible that it's in the same sties again, either growing, or inflamed as its being killed off by chemotherapy. As with everything in medicine, it's worth following and pointing out to your doctor.