Hi Everyone. My aunty has peritoneal cancer. she s undergone surgery & several months of chemo that finished in february this year (2014). A few weeks ago (september 2014) her CA 124 raised to 700 & her CT showed cancer cells in the lymph nodes near the heart & lungs, however no cancer IN any major organs. SHe s starting on a low dose chemo in a few days that will be administered for an hour, weekly. My family have to plan travel overseas to see her & I d appreciate any advise on life expectancy, both worst case & best case senario. Many thanks.
Hi, Thanks for writing in. Sorry to hear about the progress of cancer in your aunty. She might be having stage 3 or 4 cancer. The exact staging will be known after evaluation in complete detail. The survival in this group of patients is from 6 months to 2 years and this depends on the response to chemotherapy and any complications that she has. Few patients can survive for a bit longer, but peritoneal cancer is a challenging condition in most patients. Regular check up and close observation of her problems might help. As she is on chemotherapy, she should be protected from getting infections due to low immunity as a result of the chemotherapy. You can try to make a family visit and spend some time with her and make her feel comfortable.