Gabriel Santiago is 47 years old. He has been diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma (smo
ID: 3523023 • Letter: G
Question
Gabriel Santiago is 47 years old. He has been diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma (smooth muscle tumor) one year ago. The tumor is located in his posterior abdomen. It is 15 cm in height. It used to push against the upper part of his liver and now the tumor is leaning on his right kidney. Difficulty to proceed to surgery is because the mass is tangled by the major blood vessels of the abdomen. First treatment offered by doctors was 20 rounds of chemo therapy including drug doxorubicin, ifosfamide and one more to help the kidneys. The chemotherapy had little success. Recently Gabriel started going through rounds of radiation. Five days a week, 15 minutes per session (location is abdomen and occasionally chest). Prescription drugs that Gabriel is using at the moment are hydromorphone (for pain), Dexamethasone (steroid). Recently he started experiencing chest soreness, trouble breathing and a feeling like he has fluid in his lungs and fatigue. Gabe also gets frequent cramps in various places. And most recent noticeable thing is the appearance of 2 semi-soft lumps on his right forearm (closer to the elbow). It seems to move when we push on it slightly but he experienced sharp pain when we do so. Please if anyone has any information or any comments about this post. Help! Dealing with cancer is difficult and lots of our questions never get real answers at the hospital. They haven’t been informative. The doctors are so desensitized. They seem to treat Gabe as an object, rather than an amazing individual whom I love very much. He is the only one I have left. Please help. I am a pre-med student so all input is interesting. Gabriel Santiago is 47 years old. He has been diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma (smooth muscle tumor) one year ago. The tumor is located in his posterior abdomen. It is 15 cm in height. It used to push against the upper part of his liver and now the tumor is leaning on his right kidney. Difficulty to proceed to surgery is because the mass is tangled by the major blood vessels of the abdomen. First treatment offered by doctors was 20 rounds of chemo therapy including drug doxorubicin, ifosfamide and one more to help the kidneys. The chemotherapy had little success. Recently Gabriel started going through rounds of radiation. Five days a week, 15 minutes per session (location is abdomen and occasionally chest). Prescription drugs that Gabriel is using at the moment are hydromorphone (for pain), Dexamethasone (steroid). Recently he started experiencing chest soreness, trouble breathing and a feeling like he has fluid in his lungs and fatigue. Gabe also gets frequent cramps in various places. And most recent noticeable thing is the appearance of 2 semi-soft lumps on his right forearm (closer to the elbow). It seems to move when we push on it slightly but he experienced sharp pain when we do so. Please if anyone has any information or any comments about this post. Help! Dealing with cancer is difficult and lots of our questions never get real answers at the hospital. They haven’t been informative. The doctors are so desensitized. They seem to treat Gabe as an object, rather than an amazing individual whom I love very much. He is the only one I have left. Please help. I am a pre-med student so all input is interesting. Gabriel Santiago is 47 years old. He has been diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma (smooth muscle tumor) one year ago. The tumor is located in his posterior abdomen. It is 15 cm in height. It used to push against the upper part of his liver and now the tumor is leaning on his right kidney. Difficulty to proceed to surgery is because the mass is tangled by the major blood vessels of the abdomen. First treatment offered by doctors was 20 rounds of chemo therapy including drug doxorubicin, ifosfamide and one more to help the kidneys. The chemotherapy had little success. Recently Gabriel started going through rounds of radiation. Five days a week, 15 minutes per session (location is abdomen and occasionally chest). Prescription drugs that Gabriel is using at the moment are hydromorphone (for pain), Dexamethasone (steroid). Recently he started experiencing chest soreness, trouble breathing and a feeling like he has fluid in his lungs and fatigue. Gabe also gets frequent cramps in various places. And most recent noticeable thing is the appearance of 2 semi-soft lumps on his right forearm (closer to the elbow). It seems to move when we push on it slightly but he experienced sharp pain when we do so. Please if anyone has any information or any comments about this post. Help! Dealing with cancer is difficult and lots of our questions never get real answers at the hospital. They haven’t been informative. The doctors are so desensitized. They seem to treat Gabe as an object, rather than an amazing individual whom I love very much. He is the only one I have left. Please help. I am a pre-med student so all input is interesting.Explanation / Answer
Leiomyosarcoma is a rare type of cancer that affects smooth muscle tissue .It commenly affects people in their 70's but the described patient is just 47 years old. Since the cancer is in its metastatic state it is spreading to the blood stream, lungs and liver. Go for targeted drug therapy treatment. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors like gefitinib, erlotinib, sorafenib,can be used .the drugs which you mentioned is not promising and not helpful in metastatic state. So i suggest targeted drug therapy by tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.