Has anyone ever had this procedure done on liver mets that you could tell me more about it, was it done after chemo or before, is it even an option,
Thanks jill xx
Jill, I’ve been asking my oncologist about this treatment too. He says liver surgery is rare for bc mets, as the mets are usually smattered through the liver, but if they’re in one area, it becomes viable.
For me this would be after chemo, and “if theres one stubborn tumour left” in his words. He also said he’d be looking for a period of stability for months before refering me on, to avoid the situation where we put me through it pointlessly if other tumours grow.
I’m interested to hear more from anyone who’s had it done too, thanks for posting. Sarah
Hi Jill, I was put forward to see if I was suitable for RFA about six months after my chemo finished,I saw a liver consultant who confirmed it was something he did if the mets was confined to one lobe, however he liked the liver to be stable for a period of a year before he would consider doing it. Unfortunately during the first three months my mets had spread through more lobes and I am now not a suitable candidate. I did read a blog by an american lady who had it done but am not able to remember who she was, a lady on here gave me the link. Unfortunately when I heard about RFA I pinned all my hopes on it and was devastated once again when my body let me down
Hi Jill, I remember that a poster on here called VerityC had had successful RFA for liver mets. I haven’t seen her post recently, but you may be able to PM her? x
Hi Jill,
I had recently (January) RFA for 1 liver met. I have 2 mets in the liver but only one was in an accessible place. Radiologist Consultant said he was keen to start with the easy one (about 2cm in size) and depends on the respond he may consider to ablate the other (riskier) one.
The proccedure wasn’t too bad. I didn’t feel pain during proccedure as I was sedated. I discharge hospital the following day- being very well. I had it done in St Thomas’s hospital in London and I live in Winchester. I travel back home by taxi etc and I was fine. However, after midnight I woke up with awful pain that stoppedd me from breathing easily. I developed a bleed in the linning of liver… It was awful. Painkillers helped though.After 3 days doing not much but stay in bed, I recovered… I have a scan at the end of the month for follow up…
Good luck if you have one. I think I was unlucky to have that complication
Valia
PS: I take oral chemo- Xelloda since last August.
Hi am interested in this topic, having just been diagnosed with liver mets, alongside my long standing bone mets. I have asked about this but have been told it will be considered after seeing how Xeloda is working on my liver mets, ie if it is shrinking them. Then they would use RFA to zap the remaining bits, that’s if the areas are accessible. I have just had a liver biopsy done, to see if my receptor status has changed so can sympathise to some extent about the pain, Valia, but nothing as bad as you had, ouch.
Nicky x