Hi Ladies,
I am still waiting to see if Tykerb is going to be enough to do the trick to eliminate the six small tumors in my brain as I am NED everywhere else. If Tykerb isn't effective enough, we are going forward with Gamma Knife to blast the suckers.
In doing research on these topics, my husband Jay came across a program at Oregon Health & Science University called the "Blood Brain Barrier Program" where they apparently have a technology that temporarily suspends the BBB's function to allow medication to reach the brain. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this and whether or not this is a possible treatment option for those of us with brain mets. It seems that if we could just get some of these amazing drugs into our brains, perhaps we could fight and beat these brain mets more easily.
Thoughts? I am going to ask my doctor about this at my next meeting. I am also wondering why drugs such as Herceptin can't be injected into the cerebral fluid and thus given access to the brain that way. I am no medical expert but was just wondering if any of you had any insight.
The website for the Oregon program is :
www.ohsu.edu/bbb/
Any info on your personal experiences in treating brain mets is greatly appreciated. I am feeling scared and need something to hope for.