Any onocologists out there?!
Question: No one seems to be willing to answer my question at the hospital so I figured I would try here. Please know that I understand that no one can give me an exact answer without knowing the details of the case or for the fact that no one knows how powerful the human will/spirit can be.
Anyway here it is....
A person is found to have Grade 4 brain cancer, however they catch it extremely early and remove all that they can see. We are all fully aware that this is as aggressive as you can get when it comes to brain cancer. Anyway, in about three weeks the cancer grows back more than double its original size. Again, all that is seen is removed and we go back to the hum drum of meds, chemo and radiation.
Here is the question...clearly this is not something we can mess with. But, I am wondering what any of you think in terms of it growing back again? Does it grow back over and over and over? Does it grow back just once or twice? What do you think will happen in terms of regrowth?
Answers: No one seems to be willing to answer my question at the hospital so I figured I would try here. Please know that I understand that no one can give me an exact answer without knowing the details of the case or for the fact that no one knows how powerful the human will/spirit can be.
Anyway here it is....
A person is found to have Grade 4 brain cancer, however they catch it extremely early and remove all that they can see. We are all fully aware that this is as aggressive as you can get when it comes to brain cancer. Anyway, in about three weeks the cancer grows back more than double its original size. Again, all that is seen is removed and we go back to the hum drum of meds, chemo and radiation.
Here is the question...clearly this is not something we can mess with. But, I am wondering what any of you think in terms of it growing back again? Does it grow back over and over and over? Does it grow back just once or twice? What do you think will happen in terms of regrowth?
I am not an oncologist but I am a surgical pathologist. I wish I could answer your question for you however you have not given me the type of brain cancer to which you are referring. Each cancer has distinct recurrence probabilities and survival rates. Physicians are hesitant to give people such definite answers as cancer never response in 100% predictable rates. We like to say in the wards that cancer does not read textbooks. We can predict the way cancers are most likely to respond but it is never absolute. This is probably why you are experiencing reluctance to have your questions answered.
I will tell you honestly that the fact that the tumour has been removed once with regrowth is not a good sign. Since you used the term grade 4 I am going to assume you are discussing a Astrocytoma (possibly Glioblastoma multiforme) or a oligodendroglioma. Grade 4 is never a good grade to have. Removal of a tumour can never be truely complete due to possibility of damaging healthy surrounding tissue.
Im sorry I am unable to give you more information. I do not specialize in brain cancers. Theres a whole field of physicians that are devoted only to that due to the variability of the cancers and the way they behave.
My advice to you is to try to ask more generalized questions. Do some research at the hospital library on long term survival rates of whatever form of cancer you are wondering about. try to steer away from the pointed questions of how long, and will its, because physicians can not answer these questions with any assuredness and they will not lie to you about it.
Oncologists do NOT come to Yahoo Answers to give free medical advice.
You need to keep asking (be a squeaky wheel). Ask the hospital staff involved in your care. Ask your doctor's nurse.
You should have been contacted by some Cancer Support Group. Ask them.
You are paying your doctor good money to treat you. It's HIS / HER JOB to answer your questions. That's what you are paying for, not just treatment, but being kept informed. You may need to remind your doctor that, like it or not, answering your questions IS part of the job.
My closest knowledge of brain cancer was my husband's ex died of this, so I don't have your answer, but if you go to those I suggested, you should get your answer.
I doubt anyone would offer information re:cell replication/ prognosis without knowing more facts.At best we are merely men blessed by God to do the work He has assigned us to do ..gifted, specialized, highly skilled... but there is always "that chance", even if 1 in 1,000,000,000 ... it remains a chance.
I am an oncologist - retired now, so I do have time to answer questions on this site. You have some very good answers above. Medical oncology has little to offer in terms of effective chemotherapy for primary brain tumors of the types listed in "Dr. EB's" answer. If surgery and radiation cannot control regrowth, chemotherapy is unlikely to do much good. It sounds like the doctors are doing all that they can do. There are many situations where we do not have control. Doctors, even highly trained specialists with plenty of experience, cannot predict the future precisely. In this case, you may not want to know the outcome ahead of time. Sometimes, doctors try to explain things, and people choose not to hear. It's a normal defense mechanism to block out bad news or want to hear a differing version. It's a form of bargaining which is part of grief.