This question concerns my mother in law: She is a 71 year old woman, and she is a smoker. 2 years ago, she had breast cancer , but it was cured through radiation therapy. This February she was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma. She has been following chemotherapy treatment since April to October. The liquid in the bile duct has reduced, but there are still lesions on the liver, it is inflamed, and there are now lesions on the spleen . The oncologist said that a resection was out of the question, so he is trying a new drug combo of Irinotecan 180mg, Folinique Acid 400mg and Fluorouracil 400mg and 46 hours of Fluorouracil 2400mg followed by a week of rest. During all of the previous treatment, she has had very low haemoglobin and platelets. My husband and I would like to know a rough estimate as to the prognosis, as our oncologist seems to go back and forth with his answers
Hello. Thanks for writing to us. Cholangiocarcinoma does not have a very good prognosis per se. Even after complete chemotherapy, complete remission is difficult. The prognosis depends mainly on the stage of cancer. Anemia and thrombocytopenia is a side effect of chemotherapy. I hope this information has been both informative and helpful for you.