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We here at Her2support.org lost a dear friend several months ago. Her doctors delayed too long in giving her a brain MRI, and she brain tumors "too numerous to count." Even after whole brain radiation, they persisted and one worked its way down her spine, causing paralysis from the waist down. Several weeks later, after surgery and radiation were ineffective, she went into coma and died.
Mary's case prompted many of us with mets to ask our oncs for brain MRIs as part of our regular scans. Few if any of us had ANY symptoms. Yet, several of us discovered to our surprise (and the docs') that we had brain mets. I had approx. 20 small ones. No symptoms. Others might have had a couple of large ones. No symptoms.
Breast cancer typically metastasizes to the brain, lung, liver and bones.
THIS is why we urge Stage IV women to have brain MRIs NOW. MRIs show more detail in brains than CTs, but even CTs are better than nothing. Like any mets, the earlier caught the better for treatment. One to a few tumors may be able to be treated with CyberKnife or GammaKnife, rather than whole brain radiation.
And as far as tumor markers, it was interesting for me. My markers had always been right on. They did NOT go up for the brain mets. Don't know whether the blood/brain barrier had anything to do with this or not.
Love and light,
Lisa
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