Oligometastatic

That sounded weird.....my in Heaven of course, not her!

This "oligometastatic" topic is interesting. All of my doctors have been very aggressive in their approach to my cancer. In the year of my Stage IV diagnosis I had a tumor removed from my spine, rads, Tamoxifen, chemo, lumpectomy, ovary removal, and RFA on my liver. I am now precariously (but hopefully) perched at NED, with clear scans for 6 months. Do I expect to live 20 years? Probably not. But I dream of 10... not easy years maybe... but years nonetheless. Of course it could all change with one scan. It breaks my heart to see so many younger women resigned to the fact that they may not even live to see my current age (46). Their strength and maturity is so amazing... so far beyond their years. Prepare for the worst? Absolutely. But never, ever lose hope! Without it, we're all sunk. 

I was one of the 6%-10% women that was diagnosed metastatic at the time my cancer was found. I wonder if then could I be in the 3% category of those with a cure? No such luck, my bone mets could not be removed due to the damage of my spine. Removing the area would make me a "spineless" person! Seriously though, after 1 year and 3 months of weekly chemo (3weeks on, 1 week recovery) for progression from bone mets to liver mets and NEW mets in hip and lumbar area, I recently had a scan that showed stability to my liver and bones. I am thankful for this news and pray some day to be NED but my onc told me that I would never be NED in my bones because the cancer cells can't be surgically removed. I am 4 years and running... they will have to take me down kicking and screaming all the way! Good luck everyone and very happy that some of you have a cure. We need to make our voices heard for more research and a cure rate for stage 4!

Hello, this is my first post but the topic caught my eye because I have been diagnosed with oligometastatic breast cancer. I have on very small spot on the top of my hip. I was diagnosed last year (on my birthday) July 8. Following the shock and depression I started what would end up being 4 cycles of taxotere, carboplatin, and herceptin. I then had radiation to my chest and axilla and in addition radiation to that spot on my hip. My scans were all clear, showing no activity anywhere after two rounds of chemo. I then had two more rounds and then a unilateral mastectomy in October of last year. I am ER+/PR- and Her2 + I am 29 years old with 3 year old and 1 year old boys. My doctor has taken a very aggressive approach and intends to treat with curative intent. The situation of a truely oligometastatic state is unique... my docotor told me that out of every 10 breast cancer pts he sees 1 has stage IV disease and that he would have to see 5000 stage IV pt's to find 1 of me.... that has true oligometastatic disease. Its a scary time but I am so glad that I have found this board. It has provided me with a lot of information and encouragement! I am young and I want to do whatever it takes to be around for as long as I can for the lights of my life, my boys.

I really hope I am also 1 in 5000. Probably unlikeky but I can live in hope!!

I agree....hope can never be a bad thing (IMHO).  I was dx with brain mets almost 2 years ago, and boy did it all seem grim...but hey, I'm still here!!   If I didn't cling to hope it would have been a very dark time.  Instead, I worked to seek out others who have survived long term and focused on that being my goal.  If it doesn't work out, at least I gave it a damned good shot !

heidihill. when you say CRP markers, do you mean the tumour markers our oncs sometimes follow?, or is this another test?...nerida...edited to add, i read the link, it is very interesting, but not sure..do the figures apply to stage IV as well, thanks, n.?

do you think the 5 yr survival stats with low CRP levels applied to advanced IBC/stage IV heidi?, its quite hard to work out the wording for some reason, and im hoping it does.as asked onc today if i had been tested at dx, and i was, it was 0.6, low.

wishing you all great results from this curative approach!, i was thinking about this alot today, and thought maybe we can all benefit from this information, thanks and best wishes lilylady.

Hi, I am also in the same position as you! I was diagnosed with Oligometastatic cancer one year ago at 32 years old. Braca negative and no family history. I had one liver mass at the time I was diagnosed in June of last year. I was told this was very rare since I had a 7mm tumor in the fold of my breast and one 5 cm tumor in the liver. I went through very aggressive treatment. I had biopsy of breast, very large lumpectomy, nine rounds of TCH, and also a biopsy of my liver. I have had numerous pet scans and now have no metabolic activity in the liver and the mass is undetectable. I am not a candidate for Rfa since it is right next to my artery, but resection is always a possibility. Instead of resecting something that is metabolically negative and undetectable the liver transplant dr. Watches it with MRIs due to being able to see smaller masses and this is separate from my pet scans every three months. In would need a full open resection if I ever have to go that direction due to the location of the mass.



I have been cancer free since January and on tomoxifin, lupron, herceptin, as well as zometa as a preventive for bone loss every six months.



Please feel free to ask any question!! I am happy to help and answer any of your questions.

I was dx'd stage 4 in March 2008 with a local recurrence and one met to my C-spine. First I had a mx then my dr. put me on zometa and arimidex and zapped the met with 16 radiation treatments. Since then,  I occasionally get some false alarms from bone scans but so far MRIs and PET scans have been showing  no activity on the c-spine met and no [detectable] others. I feel very guarded about the situation--is it worth getting all worked up and then crash if a new scan shows progression? I just printed the National Cancer institute that was posted by someone above and I will take it to my next appointment to discuss it with my onc.

Many thanks to whoever posted it!  (spaciness, I find is one of the AI side effects)

Lisa 

No node involvement 0/13.

Thanks, jhammel! So now there's induced oligomets and true oligomets, which is about limited metastatic competence. Cancer with a low IQ? Lol!

very interesting link jhammel...that is what i was wondering..could we reduce our met load so to speak, and then treat as oligometastatic...hmmm a girl can dream...i will annoy my oncs and take that link in to them. Resection seems to have good results doesnt it?..