PV-10 Procedure

Ok Warriors, even though this might not apply to very many people on here at this time, maybe later down the road there will be warriors who it will apply to. So feel free to skip unless this has some relevance to you or you are just curious.

The PV-10 intralesion injections are interesting to say the least. I was going to upload the pic of the black-violet liquid in the syringes but I see that either it has to be posted as a link to the pic or I'm not savvy enough to figure out how to add a pic to the post. Take my word for it, it looks black because it is such a dark violet/purple color.

It was explained that for most small, subcutaneous lesions it burns a little and subsides during and after injection however, this would not be the case for me because the target lesion was large, hard, and in a "tough spot" (near and under my left clavicle). Well, Dr. Ross was spot on and this was not the case for me. I typically feel like I have a high pain "tolerance" and can mentally check out. I should also say that I have no fear of needles and prefer to watch injections, lab draws, etc. So, having said all that I would be dishonest if I told you anything other than it was quite painful. The sensation was a melange of buring, aching, and – if this makes any sense – like my entire shoulder and left arm bones were being broken. The feeling between injections (there were three, 5mls each) was more of burning and tingling in my shoulder and all the way down to my left hand. I felt a little nauseated during the worst of it, but luckily for Dr. Ross, his assistants, and the MDA janitorial staff I did not vomit. 

While the pain was pretty intense and different than any other pain I have previously felt, it does pass relatively quickly and becomes manageable within minutes of the injection being completed. I received the maximum "allowable dose" for this trial and I suspect if it had only been one injection it would have been less intense. Clearly my pain was obvious because it was offered to perform the next round in the OR under full sedation, but this would be overkill in my estimation since the pain does subside fairly quickly and I think if I just brough my best headphones and cranked up some Metallica to volume 10 I could probably do a little better with distancing myself from the reaction. I also don't want to have to spend an additional day in the hospital, a guy has to work to pay for all these treatmens afterall!

Afterwards, the site is bright pink/purple and your urine becomes a pink/rose color (nobody told me this beforehand so I freaked out a little thinking it was blood in my urine, it wasnt). The site, now at the roughly 22 hour mark is sore but nothing terrible.

I don't want to give anyone the impression that other intralesional therapies are painful (people have already posted to the contrary) or even that the needle itself was painful, it wasnt. I do think that had the dose been smaller or the lesion in an area with more adipose tissue or perhaps not so close to bone, this wouldn't not have hurt as much.

Other than the staining of the area where it is injected, a little soreness, and of course the rose pee there aren't really any remaining side effects from the injection. 

Taking all of this together, I would not discourage anyone from doing this procedure if it is offered or becomes available in the future if it is approriate. The company that makes PV-10 is called Provectus so it might be worth keeping an eye on their company and the research that follows. To steal a term from Bubbles, I am happy to be one of their "ratties". If anyone has questions about this please feel free to post or email me. Also if someone can tell me how to post pics I'd be happy to post those or a link to them. 

Best wishes to all,

Tex