From: Darrell Dixon <ddixon@es.com>
To: cancer@via-media.com <cancer@via-media.com>
Cc: ddixon@es.com <ddixon@es.com>
Subject: Looking for information on radiation treatment of leiomyosarcoma
Date: Sunday, November 01, 1998 5:57 PM

Kent,

I have been searching the web this morning for information on
leiomyosarcoma, and I happened on to your site. I certainly appreciate
the effort and expense that you have expended in creating this site and
maintaining it.

I am looking in particular, for information on the treatment of this
cancer with radiation therapy. If you have any references that you would
recommend I look at, I would appreciate hearing from you or anyone else
who might see this message. I can be reached at ddixon@es.com.

Let me give you a brief background, which explains my current interest
in this subject:

On 28/Oct/98, my wife, (53 years old) had a full hysterectomy. Part of
the reason for the operation was fibroid tumors that had formed on the
uterus. The pathology report on at least one of these turners reported
high grade leiomyosarcoma, stage 1. From talking to the doctor and from
the little research that I have been able to date, I believe that:

    . high grade means: aggressive…likely to spread.
    . stage 1 means: appears to have not yet spread.

The doctor feels that they were able to remove all of the cancer. (After
the preliminary pathology report came back, they continued with the
surgery and removed lymph nodes in the area and a flap of fat that
covers the area.) His current recommendation for treatment is 5 weeks of
daily treatment with radiation therapy in the pelvic area. Again, with
the limited amount of information that I have been able to gather to
date, I have significant concerns about the effectiveness of this
treatment on this type of cancer, and I have concerns over the potential
side effects of the treatment. The doctor acknowledges that he tends to
be aggressive and prefers to err on the
treatment side. He also admits that only about 50% of doctors would do
this treatment, since as he says, the cancer is just as likely to return
at other sites in the body as to the pelvic area. Hence, I am looking
for all the information that I can glean on this type of therapy for
this type of
cancer, in particular in this area of the body, so that we can make a
decision as to whether to precede with the doctors recommended treatment
plan.

Again, any information that you might be aware of would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Darrell Dixon (ddixon@es.com)