brain mets reoccurence
 

Has anyone had brain mets go away after gamma knife or other rads and then reappear in same spot..........now what????

Asking for my mother.
KG

Re: brain mets reoccurence
 

Ah Poop!

Are they certain it is mets and not necrosis or inflammation?

Can you re-zap them?

Re: brain mets reoccurence
 

......mayo clinic is supposed to look at the scan disks this week or next. We live about 6 hours from there so had scan done locally and then they send all the info. Not sure about swelling or necrosis. It did not use that terminology on the report we read.

From what I have read if it is the exact same spot they cannot rezap it.

Re: brain mets reoccurence
 

KG
They told me I had "disease" in the zapped area too. I told them I didn't see it myself.
They recommended craniotomy. (great option for some lesions...not where mine are.)
I declined.

They recommended WBR. No thanks.

We tried Avastin... so far so good.
You are correct about zapping the same spot twice.
It's not a good idea from what I understand.

Keep us posted.
I'll be praying.
Denise

Re: brain mets reoccurence
 

She had WBR the first round when she was dx (Nov 2012)with the brain mets because she had a large one in frontal lobe and several small ones in cerebellum. Her gamma knife was Feb. 2013.

I will keep you posted NED. So glad you responded. I follow your posts on here since you too have had brain mets.....


Thanks,
KG

Re: brain mets reoccurence
 

My radiation oncologist told me a large percentage of patient's have a recurrence within the first year...he is just so optimistic! So Im thinking there must be a lot of information out there somewhere about this. I, personally, have not known anyone with a recurrence, and I haven't had one myself. Is your mom on herceptin and tykerb? Some are of the opinion that Tykerb crosses the blood brain barrier, and can be effective in keeping the brain tumors from enlarging/increasing. So far it has worked for me. I think that your Mom and i had our whole brain radiation around the same time.
Like Denise said...sometimes further testing reveals its not even a recurrence. I had a residual tumor in my liver for the longest time that my doctor now things was just the "dead carcass" of my former tumor in my liver.
I will sure keep you and your mom in my prayers, and Im sending lots of positive energy your way. Please keep us updated....

Re: brain mets reoccurence
 

Heres praying all goes well with your Mom!

Re: brain mets reoccurence
 

Well finally we have some results. Her bone mets in her back have spread to a spot in her neck vertebrae. They didn't really say anything about the two small spots that "reappeared" in her cerebellum according to the MRI. Her oncologist from Mayo said she needs to switch therapy. She is currently on Herceptin, Flasodex, and Zometa. Mom is pretty sensitive to meds so not sure what they will do. She KG