Long-term survivor definition

[NavyHoldi99]

I read this while doing a little research online.

Ten patients underwent surgery, bringing the number of patients with CR to 14 (87.5%); 9 of them are long-term survivors (56.25%).

I assume "CR" to be complete remission. What do you think is meant by "long-term survivor" and what made 5 people in complete remission not make it to long-term survivor status?

[Scott]

I would guess the "long-term survivors" had been in complete remission for five years or more while the rest hadn't yet reached that milestone.

[NavyHoldi99]

Ah...makes sense. I was thinking that 5 of the 14 ended up not surviving the cancer. I think yours makes much more sense in the fact that 5 haven't been in remission for 5 years...or whatever benchmark they used in the study.

[dadmo]

Brett:
I was out of town for a few days and I'm just catching up on some posts. I see your almost at the one year mark and an RPLND is scheduled soon. Congratulations on making the year and good luck with the RPLND. Where are you getting that done?

[NavyHoldi99]

It is taking place at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

And I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch...it looks like it might be back. Blah! I'll know more after the surgery obviously...but some markers came back elevated today (bhCG mainly). The surgery is Tuesday.

Thanks for the shout!

[dadmo]

Brett:
I just read some of your info so I'm sure you understand that what you have is an extragonadal germ cell tumor. You should mention to your doctor about getting a second opinion, this type of tc is quite uncommon so you may be the first case your oncologist has ever had. Don't misunderstand me, he seems to be doing everything correctly but we all have room to learn and Dr. Einhorn at IU is an amazing resource.
It stinks that your markers are moving up, that's certainly a sign of some activity and may mean that you're going to need two more rounds of chemo after the RPLND.

[NavyHoldi99]

Dadmo -

I certinaly am glad to have stumbled on this forum because everyone has something to bring to the table. Matthias brought the EGGCT to my attention the other day and after researching it...it totally fit the bill.

My oncologist is going to try and meet with Dr. Einhorn this weekend at a convention in Chicago...which makes me feel like I'm in even better hands.

The good thing about the elevated markers is they are no where near where they were last year when I was diagnosed. So it looks like we caught this pretty early.

[k.strehle]

retro

dear navy

how did the rplnd go? sounds like the same thing i had. retro. nodes. my hcg was 212,000 back in nov. 06. saw dr einhorn in april after 4 rnds of bep and 3 rnds of salvage. went to him as 2nd opinion. will be seeing dr. foster in indy 7-12-07 for the rplnd. i feel like im in good hands but still would like to know more about what to expect from surgery.

fight the good fight and dont give up.

kendall