I am in the final cycle of my chemo for N2T2 bladder cancer. On 1.26.07 I had my bladder removed along with a muscle invasive tumor of 4cm. The surgeon was able to create a neobladder. Because of my prior history of Hodgkins Disease for which I was heavily radiated and the removal of my spleen it was decided to do the surgery first and the chemo second. My chemo began in March and I have had three cycles of Gemcidibine/Cisplatin and Gemcidibine alone. I developed an infection that compromised my kidney function before the fourth and final Cisplatin treatment so Carboplatin (aka Paraplatin) was subsituted for the cisplatin. The oncologists I am working with at Columbia Presbyterian are noncommittal about any differences in efficacy of these two drugs. They only say all the clincial trials used cisplatin but some patients cannot tolerate that drug and carboplatin is used instead. I'd like to know if anyone has any experience with this type of chemo and information on differences in effectiveness.
