Is swollen feet and hands while on medication for pancreatic cancer normal?
Patient: My father has pancreas cancer( metastatic stage). He was taking all sorts of drugs starting from gemcitabine, gemzar, avastin and morphine for pain. He recently started a new treatment that combine 4 different drugs. He is feeling a lot better, he is not in pain anymore but his feet are swollen and now his hands are starting to do that. What does this mean? Should I be concerned ? Is this just an side effect or does it have a bigger meaning? And what can we do to stop them from swelling more? Doctor: Hello dear. Because your father is feeling better, it means chemo is working. The cause of swelling can be either venous thrombosis(clots) in lower limbs or it may be due to low proteins level in the body or may be due to heart related problem. Please discuss these with your doctor so that he can arrange test for your father and then further management. Thanks