Last week my case was presented to the doctors in the Thoracic Center at M. D. Anderson. The next day, the radiation oncologist I had seen called to say that the group did not recommend radiation at this time because it was not clear from the scans exactly what should be radiated. Today, I finally got to talk with my oncologist about chemotherapy, and he reported what I had expected. With nothing clearly evident on the scans, the group did not recommend chemotherapy either at this time. They recommended observation by periodic scans. He also said that their pathologists had reviewed my tissue samples provided by Scott and White and confirmed that I had epithelial mesothelioma—the least aggressive kind.
Now I’ll make an appointment with my oncologist at Scott & White to discuss where to go. I guess I’m favoring starting chemotherapy, but not by much. I’ve been reading today about soluble mesothelin-related protein (SMRT), a substance somewhat analogous to the prostate-specific antigen used to identify men with possible prostate cancer. SMRT is produced by mesothelioma cells, and while the lab test for SMRT is not sufficient to diagnose mesothelioma, it might be useful in monitoring its development and response to treatment. I plan to put together a packet of journal abstracts on SMRT and the MESOMARK lab test used to measure it’s concentration and discuss them with my Scott & White oncologist. Maybe they will be willing to try this lab test as a way of monitoring my response to chemotherapy because the test should be positive even if the tumor cannot be seen on scans.
David
No comments:
Post a Comment