Bone cement procedure

[SandraL]

Since the development of mets in my spine I have struggled with pain and mobility big time. The 2 big blasts of radiation I had in May helped somewhat and I improved but have gradually deteriorated over time. My latest scan says that whatever is going on there looks stable in terms of disease but I think I have really torn/injured my back and it has spread.

So I talked to my back up med onc this afternoon about what we could do to try and lessen the pain other than just bumping up the morphine. I am tired of the morphine and it never completely relieves the pain, it just lessens it. I would really like to be able to do more physically than I am currently able.

Anyhow, she said that it really is too soon to do more radiation. My primary med onc had explained to me a bone cementing procedure that can be done. So I asked today if I was a good candidate for that and she thought that it was. So the wheels are in the works to prepare for that.

It apparently involves putting in some cement to stabilize the area and it is done under local anesthetic in the hospital. They then keep you overnight to monitor you and then let you out pretty quickly. She says it will relieve the pain, stabilize the area and even kill the cancer cells. And that there really is no down side. It won't prevent any further radiation or chemo in the future. She says that the big majority of patients she has referred for this have been very pleased with the results.

I am wondering if any of you out there have gone through this procedure and if you have any additional information. It definitely sounds to me like something I want to pursue.

thanks in advance for your comments

Sandra

[RandyW]

Sounds very promising Sandra and although I have never even heard of this I hope all goes well for You and that it works well!!

[recce101]

Sandra, I'm not familiar with this at all, but I did a Google search for bone cement spine and got lots of references:

http://www.google.com/search?q=bone+cem ... tartPage=1

This article has some good photos of a vertebroplasty:

http://www.bonecement.com/index.php?id=15135

I wonder if that's the procedure they're planning for you? Sounds very promising!

Ned

[Patti B]

Sandra-

My neighbor had the procedure done several years ago when he was 80 years ago. He did not have cancer, however. He did really well with it and continues to be very active and is very pleased with the results.

To show how well it went with him, he is now 82 and we had to yell at him last summer as he jumped over the fence into our yard.............spunky, spry guy he is!!!

I hope this helps you.....I realize how the pain of bone mets just wears you down so badly.

Hugs - Patti B.

[tnmynatt]

Sandra,

My mom had this done last year and she got immediate relief and was able to go off of all per pain medicines. They think hers was just compressed vertebrae even though she was showing signs of LC at that time also. It was really a miracle for her and she was back home the same day at 84 yrs. old.

Praying that you are able to have it done and it works as well as it did for her. Please PM me if you have questions. Take care.

[fillise]

Sandra,

They very seriously discussed doing this for my mom to relieve the pain she was experiencing from the spine mets. I did some research on it and it looks like a great option. They decided mom wasn't a good candidate for some other reasons, but it looks like a good option.

Susan