Breast Cancer Case Study

Once a person has been diagnosed with brain cancer, treatment should begin immediately. Treatment for brain tumors involves any combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Some tumors require several different surgical procedures; some can be treated with radiation alone. Surgery is the best process to remove a brain tumor. Surgery attempts to remove most, if not all of the tumor. Once most of the tumor is removed, the rest of the tumor can be removed through a process called radiotherapy.

Glioblastoma (pronounced like gleO blastoma) is an incurable brain cancer,Survival rate is usually measured in months.This became a word that was instantly defined, researched, dissected, feared, and tried to comprehend and understand by family,friends and acquaintances of Larry McKee (McKee)who was personally affected from this single word, it was quickly added to their vocabulary, because of the of the events that transpired on October 22, 2011 that forever changed lives “Glioblastomas are tumors that arise from the astrocytes- the star-shaped cells that make up the “glue-like,” or supportive tissue of the brain. These tumors are usually highly malignant (cancerous) because the cells reproduce quickly and they are supported by a large network of blood vessels.”(A.B.T A..) He was diagnosed with stage four.

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive form of malignant brain cancer in adults. On average, 8 of every 100,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with glioblastoma every year – representing approximately 2% of all cancers diagnosed [1]. Glioblastoma tumors form when astrocytes, star-shaped cells which support and protect the brain, re-enter the cell cycle and start to rapidly divide. Because the brain is supported by a large network of blood vessels, tumors grow quickly and are difficult to remove surgically. Present treatments for glioblastoma are limited to surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy; however, despite these interventions tumors are likely to regrow. Consequently, typical survival time following glioblastoma diagnosis is less than 2 years.

The American cancer society estimated that 18,500 people would be diagnosed with brain tumor and those 12,760 men and women would die of brain cancer in 2005.The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimated that 22,070 new cases of brain and other central nervous system (CNS) cancers would be diagnosed in the United States in 2009. The American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) clarifies this statistic further by estimating that 62,930 new cases of primary brain tumors would be diagnosed in 2010. By the year 2030, there will be 26 million new cases, and the death toll will reach to around 1.7 million people. According to World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 120 types of brain tumors.

The doctors also advise getting brain imaging before surgery in patients receiving induction therapy for the primary tumor.

Treatment and prognosis of cerebral gliomas vary depending on their grading. To date, histological evidence provided by biopsy is the gold standard for grading of gliomas. Development of diagnostic neuroimaging methods for non-invasive differentiation of high and low grade tumors is extremely desirable.

Mai is a 66-year-old female diagnosed with IV NSCLC (with multiple large brain metastases) EGFR exon 19 deletion (C34.90). Mai experienced headaches, weight loss, nausea, and vomiting. A very recent CT scan revealed multiple brain metastases, which are large, and throughout the cerebral hemisphere including both of the cerebellums. Mai is being treated with radiation, decradron and high-dose steroids, but still experienced disease progression. The denial states that Mai must try to fail Tarceva, Iressa and Gilotrif, however due to the highly acute, tumor burden brain metastases, with Tagrisso as a front-lien treatment it will actively fight against exon 19 deletion and more importantly, good CNS activity. Given these results of Tagrisso,

On April 14, 2012, my husband was diagnosed with a Glioma Brain Tumor. Even three and a half years after his diagnosis, I still don’t really know much about Gliomas, so I have decided to research this topic.

Gliomas are the most common type of primary brain tumor, accounting for 10-20% of its total. (5,19–21). Histopathology pattern is the most important feature in glioma classification. (22) The 2007 WHO classification of tumors of the central nervous system divides gliomas into four main types, with increasing degree of malignancy (from I-IV). Low-grade gliomas are defined a grade I and grade II, in opposition to the “high-grade gliomas”, WHO grade III and IV. The so-called “diffuse low-grade gliomas” integrate 2007 WHO II class, and include diffuse astrocytomas, oligodendroglioma and oligoastrocytoma (mixed glioma) (19). There are some pertinent critics to this grading system, such as the great inter-variability among neuropathologist experts. More importantly, 2007 WHO grading doesn’t contemplate the continuum between grade II and III. In fact, many DLGG has an “intermediate” behavior, with some more aggressive microfoci lodged in the core of the neoplasm (19,23,24). Hence, the term diffuse low-grade glioma is preferred in this article.

Meningiomas represent one of the largest groups of primary intracranial tumors. In about 80% they are slow growing, of a benign histology, and showing a higher prevalence in women than in men (2:1) [1]. However, especially high-grade meningiomas are known for their rapid growth and a significantly increased likelihood of recurrence after treatment. While in all cases preservation of neurocognitive functioning is equally important, the focus lies in achieving high rates of long-term local control for aggressive tumors, and maintaining quality of life (QoL) in patients with low-grade meningioma.

Another search in Medline/Pubmed was performed via PICO. The search was done as follows. Patient/Problem: neoplasm, Intervention: Diffusion weighted imaging , Compare to: fdg, Outcome: accuracy. This gave a total of 26 results. From these 26 articles 5 were included into this review (2) (3) (4) (5) (6). Exclusion of articles was based on: the absence of statistical numbers, not being a clinical trial, and the participation of less than 25 patients.

In the radiologist daily routine, the traditional method of finding the metastases is through a visual assessment of all slices of the image. Therefore, an early manual detection of spine metastases is often

Brain tumours as well as their treatments bring a raft of symptoms and side effects into a patient’s life and management of these is critical to a person’s well-being. While patients may have experienced the impact of their cancer and its treatment during their illness, these effects can often escalate as the disease progresses to the palliative and terminal stage.

Common malignant brain cancers increase significantly according to statistical data collected by the National Cancer Institute. In 1984, the annual incidence rates of primary brain tumor and primary brain lymphoma also increased notably, the rate of lymphoma almost tripling,

DISCUSSION : NSCLC is the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide Brain, Bone, Liver and adrenal gland are the most common extra pulmonary sites of distant metastases (1) 20-50% of NSCLC will present with metastatic disease. Stage IV NSCLC has an overall median survival time of 7-11 months (2) the standard management of stage IV Lung cancer is palliative chemotherapy with platinum based combination. Patient presenting with Anorexia weight loss and fatigue have an especially poor prognosis which depicts advanced stage and aggressive tumor biology (3) squamous cell carcinoma was associated with a higher probability of treatment response then adeno carcinoma (4) Brain metastases have dismal prognosis without treatment, with median