Brain met - cyber knife, tykerb and xaloda (sp?) help!!!
 

Brain met - cyber knife
 

I have never been in your situation, but I want to tell you I am sending positive thoughts your way.
Take care.

Diana,

Dr. Keith Black's team at Cedars Sinai Medical Center has a scan review program: http://www.csmc.edu/2233.html

Dr. Black is perhaps the most prominent neurosurgeon in the United States.

Cyberknife is a non-invasive treatment with little or no side effects.

Tykerb and Xeloda is one of the newer treatments to prevent brain mets. I doubt if you will be on the drugs forever. But you will have to be monitored at regular intevals with Brain MRI's

REegards

Joe

Diana,

I had Gamma-knife radiosurgery. I believe they are very similar. You most likely going to have your head steadied and going through the procedure just like you are getting a MRI. There are websites about cyberknife. A good one is from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberknife

MD Anderson is the place to go for second opinion. Do you live in the Southwest? or Texas? There are several Texans on the board, but I don't remember anyone in the Houston area.

If you type in "cyber knife" in the Search button on the goldbar on top of the board, you will find some threads on the subject. One of them can be accessed here: http://her2support.org/vbulletin/sho...ht=cyber+knife

If you post on that thread, maybe we will get some updates from those who had posted there (+ some new ones.)

Hi Diana-

I had a single met one year ago and had a gamma knife procedure at Cedars Sinai Gamma Center. So far so good.

Because my met was in a spot that didn't affect anything, and because I was not having any symptoms, I choose to wait 4 weeks and rescan to see if there was any change before I moved forward. (I was already on Tykerb so knew that wasn't enough if it was a met). Unlike you I had mets in my sternum and lungs that were not yet under control, which was another reason for me not to jump on the brain met until I knew it was more than a ??.

The other alternative to consider and discuss would be to start Tykerb-Xeloda and see if it gets rid of or shrinks your single met while you are waiting the 4 weeks. There are many women on the board who have successfully dealt with mets. One using Tykerb-xeloda alone for maybe a year before adding some cyber knife. You might want to re-post on the main board.

Hope this helps!
Flori