Update on Liver Tumours

Last Friday I had a chance to see the cross-sectional scans of the liver – not a pretty sight! I can understand why the scalpel is not an option at this stage. It looked as if someone had taken a paint-brush, dipped it in paint and flicked it at a canvas. The lesions are scattered all around in varying shapes and sizes.

The good news is that as a result of the Radioactive Spheres inserted into the liver there has been a marked reduction in the size of the four targeted lesions. For those who like details, those reductions from 30 October 2008 to 5 February 2009 are as follows:

Liver segment 2: From 37mm x 20mm to 18 x 10mm 

Liver segment 4a: From 29mm x 22mm to 16mm x 13mm

Liver segment 5: From 22mm x 14mm to 7mm x 7mm

Liver segment 6: From 12mm x 12mm to 7mm x 6mm

There are two other measurable lesions, one 3mm and 4mm that were non-targeted and remain unchanged. There were also another 3 or 4 smaller lesions and I must assume at the moment that these also remain unchanged. I am not sure why all of the lesions were not targeted when the spheres were inserted.

The other piece of good news is that there appear to be no lesions in the mesentery nodes after all. There are also no new lesions and “heterogeneous liver enhancement has improved since the previous study on 5 January 2009

The status of the primary cancer in the rectum was not identified in the latest scan but I am told that it is probably reducing along with the rest of the tumours! Albeit, some of the tumours elsewhere have not reduced. Then again, they haven’t grown either so one must draw encouragement from the smallest details.

Overall, I still feel pretty perky. The worst day of my fortnightly cycle is the 3rd day after chemo when I get pretty flat and tired, but not so much that I am too incapacitated.

Sorry – there are no photos of my liver to go with this medical report!!