How long before you know if Gemcitabine is working?

[rychter]

My Mom has stage IV pancreatic cancer with mets to liver and just had a CT that revealed that the tumors have gotten larger. She has been on gemcitabine for only 1 month. The reason she had a CT scan this early is because she has had increased abdominal pain and multiple fevers. Could someone please help me to better understand if it's simply too early to give up hope on gemcitabine? Just knowing that the cancer has progressed has us devastated. Thank you very much for your help.

[Adagio7780]

Sorry to hear about your mom, rychter. I started Gemzar cycles in Feb 09, three weeks on, one off. After every two cycles I have a CT scan and CA19-9 check. (I get regular lab work done weekly also.) The pancreas tumor has stabilized but not shrunk, and the CA 19-9 level has decreased from 10000 to 600 over seven cycles. Unfortunately my hemoglobin did not bounce back after the last cycle, and I have an appointment with my oncologist tomorrow to recheck it and discuss treatment options going forward.

So to answer your question as best I can, a couple of months is about as soon as my doctors felt they could see effects of treatment. Also, a big difference in my case is that I have mets to my peritoneal (abdominal wall) but no other major organs are involved just yet. Good luck to you and your mom and let us know how she is doing.