Following treatment last year in the UK for mBAC with Carboplatin/ Vinorelbine, my cancer symptoms progressed & I have just received a course of Carboplatin/ Pemetrexed, which has been abandoned as ineffective after two out of the four rounds ( incidentally Pemetrexed just lost the support of the UK NHS, as governing body NICE has deemed it too expensive).
I am awaiting enrolment on the Matrix Genetic Profiling trial ( involving up to 12 new generation drugs) which is due to start, but has been continually delayed due to lack of agreement between the drug companies, supporting charities & NHS.
In the meantime, my symptoms have gotten progressively worse. I wondered if you could suggest any third round treatments which I could approach my oncologist with, as things seem to have gone quiet from his end,
BAC third line treatment - 1268351
rjiliffe
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Reply # - February 3, 2015, 03:53 AM
Hi rjiliffe,
Hi rjiliffe,
I'm sorry to hear that Carbo/Pemetrexed (Alimta) was not effective for you. There are other chemo drugs which may be used in this setting. For example, here in the U.S. the FDA has approved three drugs for second (and later) line treatment. Besides Alimta, both Tarceva and Taxotere (Docetaxel) have been well-tested and approved in this context. Often if two forms of standard chemo have been used unsuccessfully, a change to a different type of therapy is made, such as Tarceva or an investigational drug with a novel mechanism of action in a trial setting. Other standard drugs which are not as well-tested but have activity in lung cancer are Navelbine (Vinorelbine), Taxol (Paclitaxel), Abraxane (although like Alimta it is quite expensive) and Gemcitabene (Gemzar).
You can read about second-line treatment in the GRACE FAQ here: http://cancergrace.org/lung/2010/10/04/lung-cancer-faq-2nd-line-nsclc-o… At the end of the post there are a number of links to additional posts on the subject.
Good luck choosing an effective therapy.
JimC
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Reply # - February 4, 2015, 08:03 AM
Hi JimC
Hi JimC
Many thanks for the information - it should give me plenty to go on in choosing the next step of treatment.
One avenue i have been progressing in the meantime is the Ketogenic diet with anti glycolitic supplements, but while research suggests that this can be effective ( at least in slowing the progress ) with solid tumors, I cannot seem to find out whether BAC, ie lipidic disease, has the same mechanism & hence is liable to be affected by a slow down in glucose ( ie carb ) consumption. There seems to be a dearth of information about BAC in general, besides that which Dr West has published. I wondered if you could throw any light on this?
Reply # - February 4, 2015, 08:55 AM
Hi rjiliffe,
Hi rjiliffe,
Although it is clear that cancer does use carbohydrates, and since cancer cells are fast-growing they use a lot of it, but the body in general uses it. The GRACE staff does not recommend a low carb diet as a method of fighting cancer. As Dr. Weiss has said:
"I'm not a big believer in the low sugar diet having real efficacy against cancer, but am a believer that the field of cancer metabolism is one of the most promising avenues for research that we need to explore. In other words, I DO believe in trying to starve the cancer cells of their food supply, but DON'T believe that eliminating foods that you enjoy is truly an effective way to do it." - http://cancergrace.org/forums/index.php?topic=4002.msg24008#msg24008
Dr. West addresses the issue of sugar and cancer here.
JimC
Forum moderator
Reply # - February 6, 2015, 12:33 AM
Many thanks for your reply
Many thanks for your reply JimC. I have looked into the ins and outs of the ketogenic diet with literature form Drs Seyfried, D' Augostino etc and the effects of switching to ketone from glucose metabolism, but i am aware that it can only be effective in cancers which thrive primarily on glucose. As BAC is a Lipidic disease and not a solid cancer, i wondered if you could let me know whether it is indeed a heavily glycolitic cancer,
Rjiliffe